Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Unemployable
City Journal ^ | Summer 2024 | Steven Malanga

Posted on 08/12/2024 5:14:35 PM PDT by T Ruth

Regardless of political affiliation, recent American presidents commonly say that the nation needs to win back manufacturing jobs lost to overseas relocation. “Where is it inscribed that America cannot reclaim its position as the world’s manufacturing hub?” queried [Joe] Biden recently. He has pushed for policies that penalize corporations for moving jobs abroad and that incentivize job repatriation. Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump pursued a similar objective with different means, modifying the tax code to encourage companies to bring back profits earned internationally and imposing tariffs to protect domestically produced goods. Despite their ideological differences, both presidents share a similar view on infrastructure and its capacity to create jobs in construction and related sectors. ...

Yet an unexpected hurdle has impeded these ambitions: finding enough workers. When Biden’s infrastructure law passed, the construction industry was already grappling with some 500,000 vacant positions. The money pouring into government plans then triggered a competition for workers between privately funded and government-backed ventures, driving up wages and thus reducing how much work the infrastructure bill subsidizes. “We’re in this situation where we’ve already got this skilled labor shortage, and now we’ve got all this money that’s coming in,” remarked an official with the trade group Associated Builders and Contractors last year. Since then, the shortage of construction workers has swelled by another 150,000 positions. And while America has about 1.4 million fewer industrial jobs than it did 20 years ago, the U.S. Department of Labor estimates that manufacturers have roughly 750,000 unfilled positions. That number, one industry group calculated, could surpass 2 million by the end of the decade.

Behind these shortages is a steady increase in the number of adult Americans not working. …

***

(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: greedyexecutives; h1bs; illegalimmigrants; industry; labor; manufacturing
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-45 next last
An interesting but somewhat depressing review of the main factors keeping people, especially men, out of work: Drug use, especially marijuana; crime and the difficulty of someone with a criminal record to get and keep a job; depression and poor mental health; and government subsidies for idleness.
1 posted on 08/12/2024 5:14:35 PM PDT by T Ruth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: T Ruth

Every country should be manufacturing its own stuff and only relying on trade if they can’t manufacture their own stuff. They must be willing to bear the costs of manufacturing their own stuff.


2 posted on 08/12/2024 5:16:08 PM PDT by Jonty30 (Genghis Khan did not have the most descendants. His father had more. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: T Ruth

Many men are earning an income through alternate means, like Uber, because they can’t find work in a work environment that is hostile to them.


3 posted on 08/12/2024 5:16:59 PM PDT by Jonty30 (Genghis Khan did not have the most descendants. His father had more. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: T Ruth

4 posted on 08/12/2024 5:18:01 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: T Ruth

Ah, how about competing with tens of millions of illegals?

No mention of that...Very odd.


5 posted on 08/12/2024 5:18:44 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: T Ruth

Bookmark


7 posted on 08/12/2024 5:22:51 PM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican (God save the United States!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: T Ruth

No company should complain about finding workers

They constantly reject white males over 50 - especially since 2008


8 posted on 08/12/2024 5:25:36 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SaveFerris

Very true.


9 posted on 08/12/2024 5:27:01 PM PDT by wally_bert (I cannot be sure for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: T Ruth

No mention of the irreparable harm done by “the vaccines”.


10 posted on 08/12/2024 5:44:21 PM PDT by LastDayz (A Blunt and Brazen Texan. I Will Not Be Assimilated.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: T Ruth

“”both presidents share a similar view on infrastructure and its capacity to create jobs””

¿??????? ¿???????? ¿??????

What a bunch of HORSEPUCKEY!!!

SloJo does not know where the bathroom is located, and Hussein’s handlers might as well be Joseph Stalin.


11 posted on 08/12/2024 5:47:19 PM PDT by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: T Ruth

Horsehiiite.

US Citizen’s won’t compete dollar for dollar in a race to the bottom with 3rd world illegals.

EVERY business complaining needs to pay more, or help train your workers. Your employees shouldn’t be on food stamps, and getting Medicaid.

Mfg businesses don’t compete with low price foreign goods. They just close the US factory and import the stuff.


12 posted on 08/12/2024 5:54:10 PM PDT by Macoozie (Roll MAGA, roll!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: T Ruth

Who will compete with the cheap illegal alien labor? Just a few days ago I compared my wage as a welder while I was going to college in today’s dollars.

I was making $48 per hour vs a current welding job only pays $25 or $30 at about the same skill when I started. Why bust ass in the hot Sun on a miserable construction site for $15 an hour competing against illegal aliens when you can collect benefits or even make more in a restaurant? Cut out the illegals and wages will go where they are suppose to go.


13 posted on 08/12/2024 6:01:08 PM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: T Ruth

Kamala Harris says in the following order:

- she supports working families
- she will raise the minimum wage.


14 posted on 08/12/2024 6:08:30 PM PDT by linMcHlp
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Macoozie

Correct.

Heaven forbid any company spends a dime to train anyone with ability and capable of learning. Double forbid any ideas on advancement.

My former employer would not allocate one penny for any advanced training or education. Just about any other department could get something.

I was the only person in a critical slot in IT who asked multiple ways and times of so called leaders about being reimbursed for my accredited cybersecurity classes a few times in a couple of years.

My high grades and the certifications I picked might as well have been blank pieces of paper. One of the reasons I up and left one morning.

Cheapskate UKs, mostly Scots.

When Crowdstrike bricked all of their equipment, I had zero sympathy.


15 posted on 08/12/2024 6:11:04 PM PDT by wally_bert (I cannot be sure for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: T Ruth

It’s because they DON’T PAY ENOUGH.

Inflation-adjusted wages are flat since 1971: ALL of the gains have gone to the vermin at the top.


16 posted on 08/12/2024 6:31:35 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SaveFerris

The hospital I work in hired me six years ago at 62.

I’m still there. So are a number of White guys my age. And older.


17 posted on 08/12/2024 6:40:29 PM PDT by jmacusa (Liberals. Too stupid to be idiots.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: T Ruth

Once the deportations begin we’re gonna need more landscapers and lawn mowers.


18 posted on 08/12/2024 6:41:48 PM PDT by 38special (The government is ruining our country!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jmacusa

What do you do if I may ask?

Maybe I can find something like that


19 posted on 08/12/2024 6:43:06 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: SaveFerris
I'm a porter. This is the third ER I've worked in in some thirty years.

Off and on , when I was younger I was a union laborer.

Back then I was all about “UNIONS!’’.

Now I wouldn't give you a nickel for them.

As to working in a hospital, go to the nearest one where you live.

Most HR’s are DYING for people of our generation.

We don't have purple hair, tats, nose rings or ''issues''. If seeing sick, injured, dying and dead people, dealing with feces, urine, blood, vomit, obnoxious, violent drunks and sweet old ''cat'' ladies doesn't faze you go apply. Seriously. HR managers appreciate Boomers. They'll tell you that. On the sly...

20 posted on 08/12/2024 6:58:36 PM PDT by jmacusa (Liberals. Too stupid to be idiots.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-45 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson