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 ...
You’re right! I worked as a field tech in Manhattan’s financial district. The mid to late 80’s is when I started
to see the disdain toward blue collar work and workers.
This is what my hubby does he is skilled labor with a Journeymans card. He is also now 52 so just a little younger than what this talks about. The plant he works in tends to not let their skilled labor go. If a plant closes those workers are relocated to other locations ASAP.
IBD is more conservative than WSJ. They are in So Cal so I would think they realize the damage open-borders have caused.
Would you hire a young person out of high school and be willing to train him or her?
We are also having an issue with:
1) Workers who do not want to take jobs that are “beneath them.”
2) Employers who look down on applicants who did take jobs that were “beneath them.”
I read an article by a career councelor that said that most HR departments will trash a resume of someone who did take a lower-level job or a job outside the feild. That is standard practice. HR will only consider applicants that want a parallel move. Forget about training.
THAT RIGHT THERE is fueling some of the unemployment out there. When workers know this, they would rather stay unemployed than take a lower job.
Check your local tech college. Ours here offers a course in Journeymen Maintence Mechanics which pretty much covers most everything mentioned.
Good post and a great thread. One of my first entry level jobs was electrical assembly, wiring, soldering, etc. After many different jobs in those early working years, I came back to electronic assembly with a very good company. I was good enough at it to move up and lucky enough to take advantage of my employer’s tuition refund program to complete night school. I still work with manufacuring but sadly it typically involves overseeing subcontractors doing the kind of work I used to do inhouse. Faster, better, cheaper was the mantra. Outsourcing, global sourcing, etc. have slowly drained the capability from our most important and unique manufacturers. THat was just my example.
But those trade skills are the portable ones, the carpenters, plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics,hair stylists/colorists, tree surgeons, veterinary technicians and others that are at least as noble and certainly necessary and rewarding. I strongly support the trades, just not most of the unions that have taken so much of them over.
I never considered myself college material in high school and would like a system that gives students an opportunity to take a year off after school, do volunteer work or other work for a period of time and then go to school. Scholarship programs have their place but nearly all of them are geared for those entering college immediately after high school. Book learning is not life learning and I agree that getting a college degree is not the be all to end all. You only have to look at the current administration to see ample proof of that.
Companies that invest in training often, maybe usually, lose the trained worker to a competitor, or some other greener pasture. "Loyalty" is absent, in both directions.
Some places still do it. Where hubby works they still take apprentices in when needed and they go through 4 years of school work and IIRC something like 300 hours of OTJ training. They get a raise going in (.75¢) and after getting their Journeymans card get something like a $5.50 per hour raise.
Good post and a great thread. One of my first entry level jobs was electrical assembly, wiring, soldering, etc. After many different jobs in those early working years, I came back to electronic assembly with a very good company. I was good enough at it to move up and lucky enough to take advantage of my employer’s tuition refund program to complete night school. I still work with manufacuring but sadly it typically involves overseeing subcontractors doing the kind of work I used to do inhouse. Faster, better, cheaper was the mantra. Outsourcing, global sourcing, etc. have slowly drained the capability from our most important and unique manufacturers. THat was just my example.
But those trade skills are the portable ones, the carpenters, plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics,hair stylists/colorists, tree surgeons, veterinary technicians and others that are at least as noble and certainly necessary and rewarding. I strongly support the trades, just not most of the unions that have taken so much of them over.
I never considered myself college material in high school and would like a system that gives students an opportunity to take a year off after school, do volunteer work or other work for a period of time and then go to school. Scholarship programs have their place but nearly all of them are geared for those entering college immediately after high school. Book learning is not life learning and I agree that getting a college degree is not the be all to end all. You only have to look at the current administration to see ample proof of that.
“... disdain toward blue collar work and workers ...”
I think that parallels the disrespect culture gives to women who are homemakers and-or stay-at-home moms.
Some of that might trace back to people born in the ‘60s who believe their parents did everything wrong, although their parents worked hard, gave them security and often scrimped to give them a college education.
I am now a blue collar worker. DH still works on the farm. Interesting that farmers still get a little bit of respect, but tell someone you work on an assembly line and you get sort of a stink-eye look.
I know. This story is a total crock.
My son starts training at Tulsa Welding School in August. 7 months and he will be a Certified Master Welder. He is a talented welder already and has taken mostly shop classes during his Junior and Senior years in High School. While he could have a decent paying job right now, the Certification and ability to pass a variety of welding tests will bring his earning potential up several 10s of thousands of dollars. From what we are hearing TWS is almost 100% full. Kids are getting smart and taking the Tech School route, it will just take a few years for them to make it into the work force.
A welder can make upwards of $100,000 or more per year if they really hustle and put in the overtime. And the cost of training is less than $20,000. What I've observed is that many young men are put off by getting dirty. They want clean jobs.
Of course it’s a crock. If an employer tells someone he’s having trouble finding a skilled employee, it’s his fault and he probably wants to hire an unskilled illegal anyway. /s
Still hard to believe there is a shortage of 500,000 welders.
It is true. Welders can earn very good money. I had that opportunity. I could have gone to specialized welding school, possibly up to nuke welding in the NAV. But it also occurred to me that no matter how much I earned as a welder I would spend many many days just “burning stick”. And while I am good at framing and finishing, rocking and mudding, plumbing and tile and electrical, I chose an engineering degree instead.
The article’s sentiment is noble. Paper-pushing is on the whole a lot less socially useful than a skilled trade. The HR practice of using college degrees as a screen for white collar employment when an IQ test could do just as well is perverse, to say the least. On the whole, society wastes a shocking amount of money and productivity sending to college people without the aptitude (or, in some cases, the inclination, however much aptitutde they may have) to pursue an intellectual career.
All of that said, I’m not convinced there’s anything like an actual shortage of any skilled trade you could name (including welding or carptentry). Construction, facilities engineering, manufacturing — you set up a job site you usally have no lack of experienced tradesmen applying, and if you need to train some, you have no lack of people signing up.
Everybody who went to college thought they could just sit behind a desk 8 hours a day and make a 100K, they didn’t want to do manual labor.
Cliff Clavin is writing for IBD?
Back in April I was working on fiber optic installation at a major DOD project. When I joined the crew I was wondering if they might razz me as being the "old man" on the crew.
Fat chance! Even at 62 with white hair & beard, I was only the 4th oldest on the crew!
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