We all spend so much time trying to make sense of the daily data deluge—retail sales, jobs, exports, deficits, political polling—that we often overlook more durable shifts in the underlying economy. Two are worth considering.

The woes of the financial sector have been much in the news. Bank of America will be telling 30,000 employees to clean out their desks in the next few years. Citigroup is to lay off 4,500 employees—in the jargon of the bank, these are “targeted headcount reductions in certain businesses.” “The tip of the iceberg” for a company with 267,000 employees, Nancy Bush of consultants SNL Financial told Bloomberg Businessweek. Even once omnipotent Goldman Sachs has announced some 1,000 layoffs, with more to come if rumors are to be credited.