Mileposts in the New Economy

There are a couple of mileposts in the not-so-new economy that demonstrate the network effect of the internet. In the United States, it is stated that the the majority of hires by employers are now arranged through the internet. This does not count as a majority of all employment hires but does indicate the online migration of the formal economy.

The study, conducted by Booz Allen Hamilton, a strategic management and technology consulting company, looked into the hiring practices of US companies. It revealed that Internet sources generated 51% of all hires in 2005, with the corporate websites of the employers found to be the largest source of hires, and classified adverts in newspapers accounting for just 5% of the new hires.

Whereas, in the United Kingdom, retail shopping falls before the onslaught of its online rivals.

Consumers bought 8.2 billion pounds ($14.31 billion) worth of goods online, nearing the 9.4 billion pounds ($16.40 billion) spent in department stores, Verdict Research said. Overall retail spending grew by just 1.5 percent.

Definitely Web 1.0 marches on... with 2.0 coming after.