Over the past few months I’ve been reading books like ‘The Long Emergency’ by James Howard Kunstler that delve into the impacts on modern society of diminishing fossil fuel stocks. 

At the core of 'The Long Emergency' is the concept of ‘peak oil’ – the point at which oil reserves and oil production reach their zenith whilst demand for oil continues to grow.  Reaching and surpassing ‘peak’ mean that diminishing reserves get used-up faster and the ‘run away consumption train’ leads to lower supplies at higher prices. 

Peak oil is a Malthusian concept, and not without controversy – there are many opponents of this view of diminishing oil stocks.  Likewise there are some that believe the ‘War for Talent’ is over and there are others that argue that it continues in a different form.

Borrowing the concept of peak oil and applying it to the ‘War for Talent’ debate draws out some interesting parallels.

Despite the current economic conditions, demand for talent continues to increase and is likely to continue to grow in order to service the markets that will supply the expanding global population as it goes from 6 billion today to an estimated 9 billion in 40 years.

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