Posted on 04/01/2015 6:59:31 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The great conundrum of the U.S. economy today is that we have record numbers of working age people out of the labor force at the same time we have businesses desperately trying to find workers. As an example, the American Transportation Research Institute estimates there are 30,000 – 35,000 trucker jobs that could be filled tomorrow if workers would take these jobs–a shortage that could rise to 240,000 by 2022.
While the jobs market overall remains weak, demand is high for in certain sectors. For skilled and reliable mechanics, welders, engineers, electricians, plumbers, computer technicians, and nurses, jobs are plentiful; one can often find a job in 48 hours. As Bob Funk, the president of Express Services, which matches almost one-half million temporary workers with employers each year, “If you have a useful skill, we can find you a job. But too many are graduating from high school and college without any skills at all.”
The lesson, to play off of the famous Waylon Jennings song: Momma don’t let your babies grow up to be philosophy majors.
Three years ago the chronic disease of the economy was a shortage of jobs. This shortage persists in many sectors. But two other shortages are now being felt—the shortage of trained employees and of low-skilled employees willing to work. Patrick Doyle, the president of Domino’s Pizza, says that the franchises around the country are having a hard time filling delivery and clerical positions. “It’s a very tight labor market out there now.”
This shortage has an upside for workers because it allows them to bid up wages. When Wal-Mart announced last month that wages for many starter workers would rise to $9 an hour, well above the federal legal minimum, they weren’t being humanitarians. They were responding to a tightening labor market.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Because we pay people quite well to not work.
Out of the labor force is not synonymous with "looking for work" by any means. To the contrary, there is so much of a large part of that "out of" category where the last thing on their mind is "looking for work."
It's profitable and less stressful to just live off entitlements.
What a bunch of BS. How about all the stories about there will be no more truck drivers in the future because it will automated.
My guess is the feds have no clue how many jobs are available. Multiple recruiters listing the same job, HR departments constantly advertising non-existent jobs to keep their skills sharp and look busy, etc. With the virtual world, there’s just no way to tell.
Mostly drivers are quitting because of the new regulations on drivers sleep and rest times...
Makes it uneconomic with the timing of the rest/sleep periods....
....and because of the rest time there are more trucks in the parking lots....however there are not enough parking spaces for big rigs on major highways....so that drivers are forced to take their rest stops on the side of the road or on exit ramps.
Next, put a check mark on the following job categories:
On a good day, you will be lucky if even 10% of the listings are unchecked. And only because employment prospects in our region are above the national average. Otherwise, that number would plummet to less than 5%.
Two years of unemployment benefits.
Parents, when your child comes to you and wants to major in something that gives them a “Bachelor of Arts” degree, look at it long and hard before shelling out the money!! I’m not saying all of these degrees are BS, but a lot of them are!!! You might get a good education on a subject, but you won’t be acquiring a skill that is in demand in the work force. Let’s face it, the days when you went to college to “broaden your mind” with a liberal arts education are long gone. Study latin on your own time and get a degree in one of the sciences.
There’s a reason that all of these tech companies are crying for loosening restrictions on H1B visas. It’s because we don’t have enough qualified applicants filling these high tech jobs here in America! It has nothing to do with “slave labor” or driving wages down. It is very expensive to sponsor someone coming over here on H1B visas and this is America. You can sign them to a contract for several years, but you don’t own them for life.
Don’t look to the computer industry either. It’s cheaper for the companies to offshore the work (wages far below 50% and none of the Obamacare or other requirements).
However, people always need a haircut.
I earned a BA in History (twenty years ago), but I knew it was important to get a practical skill under my belt so I went to community college to take accounting and computer courses. I had heard horror stories back then of ones who had Master’s degrees in Economics or even MBAs who could not even get entry level jobs (due to lack of relevant skills or experience because they were in school all of that time instead of at work).
It’s NOT just “not enough available hands” that leads to the H1B visas.
BS.
They’re playing games with the term ‘qualified’ in order to get more foreign workers. H1B doncha’ know.
They make citizens train their foreign REPLACEMENTS, before the AMERICANS are fired.
The EMPLOYERS get cheaper workers.
The DEMOCRATS get more voters.
The AMERICANS get screwed—ESPECIALLY TAXPAYERS.
What’s not to love??
Is there a worker shortage? Or a shortage of workers willing to work for the compensation offered?
Stop paying them not to work.
Oh and some companies are pretending that they can't find qualified people so they can get H1B visa holders to work cheaper.
The bottom line is that more and more big businesses are refusing to hire qualified Americans, because they have rights, expect eventual promotions and raises with seniority, insist on a fair wage, and cannot be discarded like used Kleenex on a corporate whim.
They are easy to recognize, because they continually plead, beg for and demand more H1-B visas. It should also be of no surprise that they offshore to avoid paying taxes, and owe no loyalty to the US at all, seeing it as just a market to exploit. For this reason, they also strongly back internationalism and even socialism, because they hate paying for anything that they can get government to pay for instead.
The market is responding to the fact that government benefits are very nice right now, and there is a very real possibility of self-driving automobiles in the next 5-10 years.
Does anyone really doubt that the technology will be put in passenger cars first, rather than in commercial long-haul trucking? How will trucking companies respond when they learn they can run the trucks 24 hours / day rather than 8 hours on and then sleep and rest breaks? Is there really a future in trucking?
The kinds of jobs that are plentiful are the only jobs that cannot be filled by illegal immigrants, a coincidence surely.
Mostly drivers are quitting because of the new regulations on drivers sleep and rest times...
Not to "worry" Mexican trucks will be flowing over the border to meet our needs..
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