One of the trends I find really interesting is the continued growth of small personal services companies. These are firms that provide life support services to increasingly harried, time-constrained consumers.
Basically, consumers outsource tasks they don't enjoy, aren't capable of doing, or don't have time for to these firms. In many cases the services provided are things we used to do on our own, or simply did without.
Academic tutoring is a good example of a personal service. The NY Times article As Private Tutoring Booms, Parents Look for Returns suggests that spending on tutors continued to grow despite the recession and is a $5-$7 billion industry. It also says the number of registered professional tutors is growing 18% per year.
Personal services is a diverse industry that includes everything from gardening and house cleaning to career counselors and youth sports coaches. And while there are large firms involved in the personal service industry, it is mostly comprised of small businesses.
No doubt a lot of personal service firms were hurt by the recession. But with economy picking back up this industry should resume its pre-recession growth path.
I agree with you. Academic tutoring is a good example of a personal service. During recession, this field really booms.
Posted by: Real Estate Sydney | November 23, 2011 at 11:22 PM
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Posted by: Polished Concrete Brisbane | November 21, 2011 at 03:20 AM
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Posted by: private tutoring | November 07, 2010 at 08:51 PM
It is good that inspite of the recession people are investing time and money to enhance their academic skills.
Recession or No-Recession - education and skill enhancement always need to be a top priority.
Posted by: Jeff.R. | September 03, 2010 at 12:07 AM
This is truly inspiring for those who were badly hit by the recession to divert their attention in starting their own small business and based from your article service-oriented home-based business are good to go.
Posted by: MS Small Businesses | August 28, 2010 at 10:50 PM
Nice post. Will be interesting to see what happens when the economy goes into hyperinflation as predicted by many of the independant economists. Good to see that people are still spending money on one of their greatest aasets though - their skills, education and knowledge.
Regards,
David.
Posted by: David Dunford | August 26, 2010 at 09:56 PM