The gay/hipster index (Richard Florida talks about the Creative Class)

Richard Florida has a new book out, "The
Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent." I read his previous book "The Rise of the Creative Class", and it clicked for me in no uncertain terms.

His thesis is that the US economy (this seems to generalise to most of the west, including Australia) has reorganised into a few groupings; the Creative Class who make up about 30% who are the professionals and designers and anyone who essentially thinks for a living; the Service Class who make up about 40%-50% and who do all the service jobs, and the rest, including working classes (manufacturing workers) and rural people, who are sliding out of view.

The Creative Class are urban dwellers who are the most productive, economically speaking, by far; they move to cool cities with technology, talent and tolerance, and business follows them there, or is created by them. The Creative Class is having all the fun, and driving the economy.

The Service Class are essentially serving the Creative Class, and having a bad time; they have low job security, poor pay, long hours. The manufacturing and agricultural workers aren't having any fun either.

His new book talks about the US losing its creative edge due to its increasing intolerance of difference, its exclusionary policy with respect to immigrants, and its failure to understand the class divide (Creative vs the rest), which is tearing their country apart (and driving the government-by-ignorance and ridiculous fundamentalist revival that is currently screwing everything up over there).

Interestingly, he mentions Sydney, Melbourne, and even South Australia (where I live) as really being on the ball with regard to attracting the Creative Class AND finding ways to include everyone in the benefits (not just the Creative Class members). Cool.