Posted on 08/09/2010 1:38:19 AM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
In Bloomington, Ill., machine shop Mechanical Devices can't find the workers it needs to handle a sharp jump in business. Job fairs run by airline Emirates attract fewer applicants in the U.S. than in other countries. Truck-stop operator Pilot Flying J says job postings don't elicit many more applicants than they did when the unemployment rate was below 5%.
With a 9.5% jobless rate and some 15 million Americans looking for work, many employers are inundated with applicants. But a surprising number say they are getting an underwhelming response, and many are having trouble filling open positions.
"This is as bad now as at the height of business back in the 1990s," says Dan Cunningham, chief executive of the Long-Stanton Manufacturing Co., a maker of stamped-metal parts in West Chester, Ohio, that has been struggling to hire a few toolmakers. "It's bizarre. We are just not getting applicants."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Its a must read, an interesting inside look at the hidden troubles within the labor market and the unemployment numbers.
Now that it’s hit the news, they are going to get flooded with resumes.
I wonder if the same old same old is going on, where dummy job ads get floated, with requirements so numerous that it’s unlikely any American who isn’t already working could hope to meet them, so that they can then bring in even more inexperienced foreigners at a bargain.
Why Bust your butt for $450 a week, when the state is paying you $400 a week, for TWO AND 1/2 YEARS ti sit on that butt?
Great scam, if you can work it. Work 6 months, get yourself fired, and collect forever.
The New Normal under the Obamunists.
Why take a $13/hr job when unemployment pays $15/hr?
An interesting competitor.
SUPPOSEDLY, to be on that dole, you have to keep on applying for jobs. While the money comes from the ex-employer, there is a chance that this might be scrutinized for sincerity. But when it starts to come from Uncle Sam, it seems nobody cares; the “search” can be as lame as you please.
There are also some of us that went Galt until such time as our efforts are not taxed out from under us.
When this admin is neutered, I’ll be happy to start employing a few Americans again. But neither I nor like minded wish to feed the machine.
The Galts aren’t going to be complaining to the news.
The obstacles to moving are aggravated because many employers no longer provide the same job security they have in the past. Temporary jobs, for example, have increased 21% since September 2009 as more employers—including Mechanical Devices—hire through staffing agencies to help control health-care costs and maintain flexibility.
People can't afford to work for less than what it costs to show up. PIMP firms take a third to three fourths of the wages; wages that are already depressed.
If you want to find workers, don't use PIMP firms. Were I the king of the forest, I would outlaw staffing and recruiting firms, and render the PIMPS into dogfood and fertilizer.
The use of staffing and recruiting firms is a restraint of free trade against working people at all skill levels.
But we are prone to posting inflamitory statements in readily obvious locations and venues.
I had to pay a headhunter $12,000 to find a good welder.
I have found 1 good CNC set up operator in a 2 year search.
I have been looking for a production planner for 4 years.
Gone through 3.
Folks lie their a$$ off on their resumes.
Then don't bother to learn their trade.
Doesn’t matter what you pay.
Skilled employees are priceless.
Love how those government benefits help society. /sarc
And yet businesses, for the most part, treat them like crap. Layoff after layoff of "old, expensive guys" who just turned fifty. And then the managers wonder why their plants start to blow up and break down. They NEVER consider that it might be due to all the expertise that went out the door during those layoffs. Businesses expect complete loyalty FROM employees, but have none FOR employees.
And yes, I know there are exceptions, and that many small businesses don't operate that way.
Maximum number of weeks of unemployment benefits is 99 weeks. Even then it’s only in some states. You may want to check your “TWO AND 1/2 YEARS” statement.
Another thing I see is the big companies have hired managers that are absolutely clueless of mechanics and they are the bosses of men with 20 to 30 years as a machinist.
Skilled machinists make double that. Maybe that is the reason he can't find any.
No matter how much I pay.
The article is spot on.
Machinists that cant measure, don't even own a copy of the machinery handbook. Stood in front of a CNC for 10 years and don't know “G” code.
Big shot high priced Welders that use needle sharp thoriated tungsten electrodes
on aluminum parts and wonder why the weld is crap.
They don't download a copy of the welders handbook
and try to figure why. Just make junk day after day,
month after month.
Engineers that don't even own a calculator or a mechanical pencil.
The engineers with no common sense.
Never designed a thing, just broke things that worked well.
I often said the parents should sue the university's and get their money back.
It takes three things to survive.
Attitude, skill, and a willingness to learn.
Many wont invest that in themselves.
Cant do the job, won't even buy a book.
That's the bottom line right there.
Nothing like hiring someone and a year later they haven't
done what you asked them to do on the first day.
It's a two way street.
It is why 15% of the workforce are priceless.
They carry the rest.
And yes I do take care of them.
I have no choice. Unless I want to be un-employed as well.
Your ignorance is showing sir. Staffing firms find jobs for many people unable to find them on their own, and are very grateful for these opportunities. Many small firms do not have the resources to hire on their own, and are also in turn grateful for the liability that a staffing firm is willing to absorb. Margins are surprisingly modest, unlike you have reported, simply because competition is fierce and employers are very wary of unreasonable fees that you state staffing firms charge. My wife is regarded as one of the best recruiters in the country because she is fair, honest, and loves the people she works for, both company and employee alike. She provides a valuable, free-market service. Perhaps your angst of the true PIMPS would be better directed toward our present anti-free-market regime in Washington D.C.?
Sounds like i could do well doing technical work, if i weren’t already doing well as an engineer.
True, I haven’t done a whole lot of design in the last decade, but management and wrangling dollars an cents pays better than doing design.
Mike
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