Polarizing Economics
Job opportunities across occupations have "polarized", with growth concentrated in high-skill, high-wage and in low-skill, low-wage jobs – at the expense of "middle-skill" jobs.
The polarization of employment and wage growth presents an important theme for consumer manufacturers, retailers and marketers – the middle is being hollowed out.1
"As a retailer or restaurant chain, if you're not at the really high level or the low level, that's a tough place to be. You don't want to be stuck in the middle."- John G. Maxwell, Global Leader Retail and Consumer Practice, PwC
1 The Polarization of Job Opportunities in the U.S. Labor Market, MIT Department of Economics
These changes are fundamentally changing the relationship between brands and consumers, creating value shifts from producers to consumers and vice versa. This polarization drives consumer and retail success at both ends of the economic spectrum, with luxury goods makers, restaurants, and retailers catering to one end of the economic spectrum, and value-driven marketers and mass-market retailers serving consumers at the value end.
Polarization equally affects behavior on the social+mobile Internet, with low-income families focused on family budget management and high-income households more concerned about managing time and convenience with price playing a diminishing role.
