Is being laid-off good for you and the economy?

Wired is running an article that takes the view getting laid off is good for you and good for the tech industry. It is written in a Silicon Valley centric manner, but the ideas are valid for skilled, creative people living any where in any industry. The author is a professional writer/editor, so it obviously doesn't just apply to coders.

Once laid off, you are totally empowered to take control of your life and where it leads. If you look at it from this point of view it is very liberating and full of potential. You can pursue your own venture or change fields. When adjusted to this point of view, you will feel much happier seeing life as full of new possibilities instead of sitting on the couch thinking "Why me?"

Worker mobility gives the tech industry fluidity, velocity, and energy. It creates a culture in which people routinely jump from one job to another, looking to get in on the next must-have product or service.

Early in my career I worked for a while at a Fortune 500 company in a division with little to no turnover due to geographic isolation. It became an inward focused, non-creative environment where "not invented here" was the regular mantra. Turnover and new blood helps keep a corporation open to new ideas and creative approaches to problems.

AnnaLee Saxenian, author of Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128, puts it this way: "Job-hopping, rather than climbing the career ladder within a corporation, facilitates flows of information and know-how between individuals, firms, and industries. When combined with venture capital, it supports unanticipated recombinations of technologies and skill."

Just today President Obama stated that "Innovation has been essential to our prosperity in the past, and it will be essential to our prosperity in the future,". If you have been or will be laid off, having the right attitude with which to approach the future is key to your success and to the overall economy.