Posted on 06/29/2010 5:10:15 PM PDT by Kaslin
When did "blue collar" become a dirty word in America? Right about the same time America gave up its position as the world's producer and instead became the world's most conspicuous consumer.
That's not to bash free enterprise; we need to purchase and consume. But this cultural shift has created an "industrial tsunami" that threatens our free enterprise system.
America faces a crisis of epic proportions. The U.S. Department of Labor forecasts that by 2012, there will be a shortfall of nearly 3 million skilled worker positions in America. The average age of skilled workers in many trades is 54-56 years old, and as this veteran group retires, there are not enough trained workers to replace them. Today's shortage sharply reduces the growth of U.S. gross domestic product — certainly not a help in the current economy.
As I've traveled the nation and met with business owners, I hear the same story. Employers are desperate for skilled workers to fill essential jobs. Many say privately that their companies may have to close or move operations to another country because of this shortage — despite the offer of good pay and benefits. We're experiencing the loss of the once-vaunted production edge that America enjoyed.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Most of the Foreign Skilled Workers are very good but they suffer from a poor ability to:
1. Check their own work
2. Pride in work
3. Follow Instruction
4. Communicate
5. Quality Control
What you end up is someone that is in many cases 2-4x more trained than the US Worker with a result that is only 20-40% as good.
It is an interesting dichotomy.
And I have heard it before that this is because of their very long work hours, but many US Workers have long work hours too. The only difference is overtime and I doubt this explains it. In other words, I don’t buy this arguement and haven’t heard a good one.
There is an excellent book out there called “Shop Class as Soulcraft.” It is about the intelligence that goes into such things as mechanics, carpentry, etc. College grads tend to look down at these people who are often very, very intelligent and - amazing - they have real skills that are useful in this world (not just customer service skills).
When this downgrade of the skilled craftsman began, I can’t really say, but like so much other garbage that has flowed out of it, I have a hunch it was the Sixties and all the radical baloney that came from academia.
Perhaps that is part of the problem, but much of it is due to the notion that everyone should go to college. We have legions of young people who have no clue as to what they want to do, so they go to college and get a degree, any degree.
It is about time we stopped believing that institutional education is the Holy Grail and start letting young people choose their own path in high school. There are many youngsters who would probably rather become an apprentice in some trade instead of wasting away in their junior and senior years in high school, but it is not PC to consider such a thing. Everyone has to go to college, right? Even if they do get a degree in multidisciplinary studies (whatever that is) or political science and find themselves working as a clerk or waiter.
The entire American education system is screwed up from the bottom up. That’s what happens when government runs the show. We need more freedom and options and less publik skool.
Define good pay and benefits.
There are legions of people who would pay for training if they could be semi confident of getting a good paying stable job. If companies are so desperate why not offer a contract that if you pay for a specific training course, we will in tern hire you for x years at y dollars. I am very skeptical of these stories about companies who can’t find workers.
if you take and pass a specific training course at your own expense
Ummmm, of course they are quiet. No one is asking any questions. Sadly this will pass under radar and the masses will not know.... just sayin. He is and will be “Scott Free”
NO cheers, unfortunately.
Excellent point. If companies need the workers so badly, they can start apprentice programs in-house (or in cooperation with companies in the same industry). I suspect that many of these companies want the people to just materialize without having to go thru the hassle of training them.
by 2012, there will be a shortfall of nearly 3 million skilled worker positions in America.
There are at least 10 million trainable unemployed Americans right this minute. And $Billions in tax dollars are being spent on training programs. Sounds like these businesses need to talk to the training bureaucrats.
No, they just want cheap foreign labor. It has two advantages: lower costs and depressed American wages.
I don't buy that. Any company will train employees if the benefit outweighs the cost.
I wonder if the writer investigated that beyond the fact that someone told him there was a shortage of welders. I can remember, not so long ago, when welding was a high paying craft and knew several who became welders. I wonder what the pay for skilled welders has done over the past thirty or forty years, if it's still good pay, or if the pay has been undercut by cheap immigrant workers, both legal and illegal.
All this article does is bemoan something, but presents little to explain what has actually happened to cause this shortage. Or maybe he's building another case for more foreign workers. And I seriously doubt that "negative media images" is the main cause of this shortage.
Because it’s cheaper to hire an illegal immigrant and train them on the job then it is to hire an American and train them the right way to do things.
They’ve been hiring immigrants especially with construction jobs for over 20 years. And notice how the quality sucks since then? Most of the houses built today are sloppy. The walls are crooked. The plumbing is done half-assed. They buy cheap dry wall from China that falls apart and ruins the electrical.
This is one big reason the government does not want to seal the borders. The GOP doesnt want to hurt those businesses that employ those illegal immigrants. And the Democrats want those votes.
It was once the norm that many people went to welding school, earned a basic certification, then sought a job. I commented on welding in #14 and really wonder how it has gone from a very desirable and high paying trade to one supposedly with a shortage of 500,000.
Here’s a suggestion for these anonymous companies so desperate for employees. Call up one of the thousands of companies in the country that have recently laid off skilled workers. They are easy to find, they are in the paper every day. Call up their HR department and ask for some names. I’m sure they’d be happy to give them to you.
I’ve hired hundreds of engineering and technical folks over the years and I recruiting now. My advice for any aspiring student today: Learn “how” to do something, don’t learn “about” something. Learn a professional, scientific, engieneering or skilled trade. I could wallpaper the building with the MBA’s that apply, but they can’t create anything we can sell.
We have legions of young people who have no clue as to what they want to do, so they go to college and get a degree, any degree.
This is a problem. There is also the problem of companies that require college defrees for even menial labor positions.
“...and I am recruiting now...”
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What kind of skill set?
Where geographically?
I might can send you some leads.
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