The Talent Gap: Finding Skilled Workers Isn't Easy

Grainger Newsletter ^ | 25 July 2013 | Grainger.Com

[Vigilanteman]

You think kids came out of high school as trained machinists in the fifties?

Of course not. In the fifties and even into the sixties we had shop classes in junior high and even more advanced hands on training by high school.

I never learned to be really handy, but I did learn the rudiments of metal work, wood work and machinery. All of us did who went through school in that area. I got my first job out of high school doing electrical and telephone wiring. The pay was only $2 per hour, but still 40 cents over the minimum then. It got me off to a good start even though I later went to college.

This was in an era when even getting a job at McDonald's was highly competitive. I tried that too and got turned down.

Of course, we didn't learn how to put condoms on cucumbers and how to have high self-esteem. The self-esteem had to be earned by actually accomplishing something.

[jiggyboy]

The last time I looked, salaries were established by supply and demand.

Then it's been quite a while since you've checked. Government meddling via open borders at the low end and H1-B visa scams at the high end have been artificially drowning the U.S. in labor supply and depressing salaries and employment of U.S. citizens for at least the past thirty years.

[kearnyirish2]

“The rationale behind the replacement is that, instead of spending extra money on substitutes when needed, they can just pull a TA from regular duties for no additional pay.”

That makes plenty of sense, especially if they’re earning TA pay; thank you.

[InterceptPoint]

Then it’s been quite a while since you’ve checked. Government meddling via open borders at the low end and H1-B visa scams at the high end have been artificially drowning the U.S. in labor supply and depressing salaries and employment of U.S. citizens for at least the past thirty years.
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At the low end you are unquestionably correct. But at the high end, particularly the tech sector, I wonder if you are. Starting salaries for new graduates in many engineering categories seem pretty good - petroleum engineering being the prime example.

Do you have any data to support your position? Specifically your belief that H1-B visas are the problem you seem to believe they are. If they are then you need to explain how 22 year old petroleum engineers are pulling down $90K.

[jiggyboy]

However many hundreds of thousands of H1-B visas per year are issued, times thirty years, that’s my data. That’s how many American-born engineers have been displaced.