by Tyler_JC » Fri 17 Aug 2007, 12:13:06
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('firestarter', '
')You're absolutely full of it! And an elitist to boot!
What about my data is elitist or illogical?
The unemployment rate for highly educated and highly skilled workers is, historically, significantly lower than the unemployment rate for less educated and less skilled workers.
It's not elitism, it's just a well known statistic.
My comment about "rounding up the laid off factory workers" was the sarcastic way of saying that the trick to maintaining employment is to make yourself a highly desirable employee.
Also, the places where people are getting laid off (Michigan, Ohio, etc.) are not the places where workers are scarce (Massachusetts, California, etc.). People are afraid to move to find work because they would rather be unemployed in a cheap place than risk being unemployed in an expensive palce.
Behind the Labor Shortage-Layoff Paradox: Lack of Skilled Workers$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')ut there's more to this. The issue isn't filling factory jobs that rely entirely on muscle and a willingness to show up for work on time; those jobs are going, either overseas or to automation. The issue is jobs like this one advertised by Pneumatic Scale Corp., which makes high-speed packaging equipment in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio: "Experienced assembler capable of performing diversified electrical and mechanical assembly of intricate machines. ... The successful candidate will have an understanding of PLC/PC-based (hardware/software) systems, utilizing Real Time Process Control applications (using C+++, Visual Basic, and Windows NT) and instrumentation." Few laid-off GM assembly-line workers need apply.
"You don't fill those jobs overnight," says the company's human-resources manager, Greg Myer. He says the firm will have "some choice" for the two openings, which were created by retirement, "but we don't have 50 people lined up at the front door."
Companies that can fill jobs today have reason to worry about tomorrow. Thales Communications Inc., which makes radios for the military outside Washington, used to demand five years of experience for its factory; now it settles for two, especially for applicants referred by existing workers, who get $1,000 for each successful tip. The firm is now filling 25 jobs at wages that begin at $13.50 an hour and up. "We've been reasonably successful in bringing people on board," says human-resources manager Pat Flanagan, "but you're concerned if you're me that at some point in time you run out of people with experience in this field."
All of which raises a question: If the jobs are there, many of them good jobs, why aren't more workers in the pipeline?
Two answers: One, manufacturers aren't investing enough in training. The National Association of Manufacturers survey found only 50% are spending more on training than they did three years ago. Two, manufacturing has earned a bad reputation, as it responds to globalization, competition and stockholders. Mention factory jobs to an American high-school student and he or she thinks about layoffs, benefit cuts and bare-knuckle union bargaining. No wonder so few want to grow up to be machinists.