[kabar]

There are about 10 million Americans with STEM degrees (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) not working in those fields.

[dfwgator]

You mean a degree in African-American Lesbian Studies won’t get me a job?

[Cronos]

The thing that worries me is this -- the jobs are in science, engineering etc.

i'm a mechanical engineer, but moved to IT (more money!), but the number of engineers, doctors etc. are only 5% or less of the population

Many folks can't take the heavy duty maths involved or the enormous learning required to be a doctor -- and that doesn't make them dumb: my sis-in-law is a professor of Japanese language and culture (and firmly conservative), and brilliant at languages, but show her numbers and she is terrified, she can hardly understand them, no matter how hard she tries

And I have friends who are nowhere near smart enough to be in science or high finance or other fields or even in literature or language etc. or even in business

What's going to happen to these?

We may complain about outsourcing to China, but there is also the threat of robotisation -- a car factory that employed a thousand people can now run with just a few dozen skilled technicians.

I probably put lots of people out of a job with balance transfer and insurance online applications

What's going to happen to the middle 80% IQ people?

There are only so few skilled jobs like hairdressers, plumbers etc (and don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for a good plumber and if I was cutting hair, well, we'd look like we were in the 80s)

[Obadiah]

You see, in a Republican administration it's called a "jobs crisis". In a Democrat administration, it's a "skills crisis".

Therefore, in a Republican administration, it's the fault of the Republican. In a Democrat administration, it's YOUR fault!

[17th Miss Regt]

This is conclusive proof that a focus on preparing our young people for careers in these fields is the crucial economic challenge of our time.

No. The crucial economic challenge of our time is getting young folks skilled in readin', writin', 'rithmetic, to learn the value of hard work and to plan for the future. That is more basic and has a better effect than continuing to teach them teach them lesbian literature themes and telling them, "Oh, you might want to take some hard sciences, too." The author was a high mucky muck in the New York city schools. If he retired from the school system instead of resigning in disgust, then he is probably part of the problem.

[cuban leaf]

This rings true for me. My three 20 something daughters all live in Seattle. Their “stories” are as follows:

Daughter 1: no college but follows fathers footsteps (IT), eventually getting Business Analysis training and is now a well paid BA.
Daughter 2: Degree in Accounting and is now a well paid accountant.

Daughter 3: Civil engineering degree and is now a well paid engineer. The youngest is only 24, the oldest just turned 30.

I thought they were just “fortunate” but now that I think of it, their cousins that attained no skills - just worked the “retail counter” are really struggling.

[Olog-hai]

Not only the wealth, but the independence and security of a country, appear to be materially connected with the prosperity of manufactures. Every nation, with a view to those great objects, ought to endeavor to possess within itself all the essentials of national supply. These comprise the means of subsistence, habitation, clothing and defense.

— Alexander Hamilton

Definitely a dearth of jobs rather than skills.

[RadiationRomeo]

Here in Ohio they can’t fill the gas field jobs because no one can pass a drug test. But that’s a different problem.

[Vendome]

BS

It’s about uncertainty in the marketplace and what the gubmit demandsaand the confusion surrounding it.

Get out of the way and simplify life.

[dfwgator]

People need to develop a knowledge and skills portfolio that is just as diversified as a financial portfolio. We need to start emphasizing this in school....you can’t just spend all of your time studying and training to do one thing.

[factoryrat]

The chickens are coming home to roost. In the 80’s it was all high tech manfacturing jobs, engineers were in high demand, and students went to school to learn those skills. Enter the 90’s, when all of those engineers and skilled trades watched their jobs get shipped to china and mexico by the ‘effin boatload, and were told you can’t compete against cheap foriegn labor, so get used to it because those jobs are never coming back. So through the 2000’s foreign interests gobbled up US manufacturing while the people here were sold on getting degrees in bullshit fields, all along colleges making money hand over fist by peddling useless dergrees, and perpetuating the myth that you have to go to them to get a toehold in a lucrative job. The quest for profits at all costs has cost our industrial infrastructure dearly, and that has reprecussions to future generations who have lost the ability to make, grow, and build things for themselves.

[a fool in paradise]

Except the “Bill Gates” billionaires lie to Congress and say there aren’t enough qualified Americans willing to do the work, can ‘we’ get some work visas (and here’s $10,000 to the government for each employee we are giving half-wages)?

Not to mention the offshore workers who then smuggle their foreign authored million dollar code into the US via the internet without paying importation taxes.

Not enough skilled workers my ass. A degree won’t keep your job stateside with upper management trying to shave off dollars.

[1010RD]

Who said that education is the civil rights issue of the 21st century?

[TArcher]

Would you like Curry on your Fries?