Posted on 10/13/2015 11:15:34 AM PDT by Kaslin
As technology changes, so does the job market. Two centuries ago, most low skilled workers would have found work as farmhands, while a century ago they would have been employed in a factory. Today they are most likely to work in the service industry, whether in retail, food service, janitorial services or as personal care aides in a nursing home or hospital.
As I have written before, these jobs are often important stepping stones to better ones, even if they do not offer a direct path to advancement. Low skilled jobs still teach workers how to follow instructions and become reliable, polite employees; these are habits that will greatly increase their chances of being hired again at a potentially higher wage. Unfortunately, technology has marched forward at such a remarkable pace that even low skilled work is quickly becoming out of reach for many Americans. Jobs that once required only the ability to work with one’s hands—an entry level auto-mechanic or a server in a restaurant—now demand computer skills as a basic requirement. In her book The Working Life: The Labor Market for Workers in Low-Skilled Jobs, Nan L. Maxwell explains:
“Over the past few decades, the economic prospects for workers possessing relatively few skills have worsened as the demand for skills in the labor market has increased. Even in jobs that might be categorized as low-skilled, workers require a diverse set of skills to succeed. Many of these skills can only be obtained through schooling or job training. This is why workers lacking skills find it difficult to attain a foothold in the labor market and why employers have difficulty filling low-skilled jobs.”
The gulf between those who are comfortable using computers and those who are not is often called the “digital divide.” According to Child Trends, 93 percent of Asian and 91 percent of white children have computers in their homes, compared to only 74 of black children and 69 percent of white children. And today, the opportunities lost to those on the wrong side of that divide are greater than ever. Unfortunately, the issue often gets insufficient attention, because many confuse internet access with computer literacy. An Associated Press article last month declared confidently, “No Digital Divide Among Black, White Millennials.” It detailed the results of a study that showed that the percentage of blacks ages 18 to 34 who get most of their news from online sources (66 percent) is roughly equal the that of the general population in that age group (64 percent) who get their news from the internet, including YouTube videos. Unfortunately, many have learned to be entertained by the internet without learning how to use it to further their education and careers.
The skills required to search for a job and apply for an entry level position are now beyond the reach of many who have theoretical access to computers at public libraries. People can watch videos on YouTube without knowing how to search effectively for a local position that suits their skill set or feeling comfortable completing and submitting an online application or resume.
A couple of decades ago, it was not uncommon for a young person or an adult to be able to obtain part time work doing odd jobs in a neighborhood. Some might even build a viable lawn care or landscaping business that way. Now even small businesses are expected to have a strong presence on the internet and must be able to respond to emails as well as phone calls.
While some clamor to raise pay for lower skilled work, another consequence of the technological boom that disproportionately affects lower skilled workers has been the trend toward automation: machines doing what human employees used to do. This is nothing new. We all know that many jobs once performed by human beings on assembly lines in factories are now performed by robots. However, more recently, fast food chains like McDonalds have introduced ordering kiosks, replacing cashiers. Many analysts have pointed to rising minimum wage levels in some cities as the catalyst for automating food service and other customer service jobs.
I believe there is a great opportunity for churches and community organizations to make a tremendous difference in the lives of children and adults stuck on the wrong side of the digital divide. In addition to providing computer access, churches can provide mentors and teachers to help workers increase their comfort level with basic computer skills. They can also help them take advantage of the growing number of universities are offering free online courses, as well as organizations like Khan Academy that offer academic instruction in a variety of subjects for free.
The digital divide is real, but I believe it can be narrowed and eliminated one community at a time.
the unemployment in “the ghetto” is largely a factor of the WILL.
I will smoke dope I will be a Dealer...I will make big bucks stealing dealing and pimping.
I will not get me no job working for whitey.
A few generations of thet “mindset” will be hard to crack...regardless of the tools used oi attempt to do so
Boy, I hate to sound cliche, but while this may help one out of a hundred, two parents with at least one working under the same roof and married would do more than ANY technology or outside insinuation can do.
Yeah, they’re called ATMs...............
If we could teach them email scams, they would have skills to earn a living...
Ghetto women also set themselves up to FAIL in child-rearing because they FAIL to get married to said father of child.
Fathers ARE SUPPOSED to teach their sons how to be men, how to deal with adult male authority, how to deal with women, how to be good husbands and fathers.
MOTHERS, no matter how smart, savvy and well-meaning they are, simply CANNOT do those things.
Thus, said sons grow up as you have so apply described. The buck STARTS with the promiscuous, non-marrying mothers.
I was going to go with faulty GPS in cars.
Did someone create a "Where's My Crack" mobile app?
Oh, and add EBT cards......................
The only technology that has a chance of improving the lot of those who embrace the ghetto entitlement culture is a Bible app on their smart phone.
The nation will ALWAYS need MANY workers that do manual labor, be it stoop labor in a farm field, working with ones hands in the construction industry, or any kind of service job, and if employers and the CoC continue to seek out those who are willing to work for less than the going rate and under the table (the INVADERS), no longer will those jobs be available to young citizens starting out in life or citizens who have years of experience in a trade.
The Lyndon Johnson Family Plan a subsidiary of The Great Society...and yielded some very spoiled fruit....hasnt it
Hey, it worked in San Francisco. /s
It worked in NYC. /s
The reason it helps is, the cost of living rises high, and the poverty moves along.
The inner city already get a ton of money.
What they need is a change of attitudes, a change of values.
The basics needed for most jobs include:
-Punctuality
-Reliability
-Personal responsibility
-Honesty
-Cooperation
-Social skills
-Communication skills
If you can’t satisfy most of the items above, what good are the computer skills referenced in the article?
The author might want to ask these questions:
-Why are there no glowing success stories in America’s inner cities that can stand as examples of progress?
-Why have the higher IQ individuals of all races fled from the inner cities?
-Why don’t employers move their businesses to inner cities where there are large numbers of potential workers?
-Why is the continent of Africa in decline under black rule?
-Why is the performance of blacks in schools so uniformly poor?
Why, after spending trillions of dollars in the war on poverty do we still have inner city ghettos?
NOT.
The folks who USED to do that work are on welfare, that is, getting food and lodging, on the backs of working stiffs like us. No need to work, is there?
Thus we hire the illegals who will work for a LONG time for LITTLE money. But then the LITTLE money goes a LONG way in the south of the border-lands.
Seem as if the motto of the third world is America delenda est.
Almost anyone who can read and write can be trained in 2 days to 2 months to do almost any job. Many govt jobs need about 2 minutes training. Science based jobs are exceptions.
I want my $22 trillion back.
- The taxpayer
“The folks who USED to do that work are on welfare, that is, getting food and lodging, on the backs of working stiffs like us.”
Yep. It’s sick.
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