President Blames Unemployment On Lack Of Tech Skills

IEEE ^

[Florida_Irish]

During a Wednesday morning (July 30th) press conference, President Bush was asked a question about jobs going overseas as a result of technological innovation. His response was:

"I fully understand what you're saying. In other words, as technology races through the economy, a lot of times worker skills don't keep up with technological change."

Many people have taken his response to mean that unemployment in the high-tech sector is the result of American workers who allowed their skills to become obsolete. This is an unacceptable explanation.

[dirtboy]

Really? What was your claim about salaries, then?!

I made no claim about salaries, but instead said the middle class was shrinking. For example, discouraged workers who used to hold a middle-class job aren't even reflected in your average salary statistics. The unemployed are not reflected, and when they are re-employed, where will the come back into the wage scale? Most of the folks I've been reading about are taking pay cuts - I was lucky to find something a bit more than I was making before. So an national average number, leaving out the people most impacted by the economic changes, is hardly a reliable indicator that things are hunky-dory for the middle class.

[dirtboy]

But still the economy grew, didn't it?

I really don't care to have the government attempt to spend us to prosperity. I thought the GOP didn't go for that kind of Keynesian nonsense.

[dfwgator]

The biggest scam going is IT training. Everything you need is a Google search away. Plenty of online tutorials and books are available for anyone who wants to learn. And most of it is...free!

[dirtboy]

Yes, but would you have preferred the **alternative** to growth?!

No, but I put less merits in a rosy number when most of it is due to government spending. That kind of growth is most definitely NOT sustainable.

[dirtboy]

Oh, unbunch your shorts...

Quit whining about having to take it when you intially dished it out.

[Southack]

"Most of the folks I've been reading about are taking pay cuts..."

Well, if all you are reading about are IT people, then that shouldn't really surprise you.

I can tell you right now from the number of resumes that I'm getting versus the number of job openings that I have that IT is only going to get worse in the next year, and the long-term trend doesn't look very good, either.

But that's a far cry from your baseless claim that the American middle class was shrinking. IT is a very small portion of America's economy, after all.

Overall, national salaries are up. Whatever people are entering back into the market at, the overall level is up from what they were all earning last year.

I can tell you that those who are most stubborn, and who most resist change, will suffer the most in pay. If you stick in IT through the entire decline, you will be much harder hit than the guy who gets out of IT early and bounces around in a few other-industry-jobs (finally settling down, one hopes).

[Southack]

"No, but I put less merits in a rosy number when most of it is due to government spending. That kind of growth is most definitely NOT sustainable."

That's a fair point. I agree.

[carton253]

I really don't care to have the government attempt to spend us to prosperity. I thought the GOP didn't go for that kind of Keynesian nonsense.

What's that got to do with my question.

In the last quarter, did the economy grow 2.4%.

[dirtboy]

But jobs are out there. Our economy just grew by 2.4% in the last Quarter alone. Moreover, opportunities are out there.

However, there would be a lot MORE opportunities if jobs in this country weren't being so aggressively outsourced. And it isn't just IT - engineering, accounting and medical jobs are being outsourced as well. Other jobs are being taken by illegals - and, if illegal labor was not available, then those jobs might pay a better wage to legal workers. That supply and demand thingy. And, to top it off, we still have the H1-B visa program going when there is clearly no longer a shortage of workers in this country. It should be killed. Now.

So training, although fine and dandy and useful, is only half the equation. And Bush needs to realize that people want the other half dealt with as well - namely, job availability.

[dirtboy]

In the last quarter, did the economy grow 2.4%.

And over half was due to increased government spending.

[carton253]

Now, you did that the last time we debated.

You have no idea how amusing I find you... you stomp your feet, you get mad, you pout, you call names, you weave, you bob, you change the debate... You have done it with me in the past and now with southack.

So, if you want to think that I'm whining, go right ahead. I assure you that I am not. I think you are flat out funny.

[carton253]

Did the economy grow by 2.4% or not...

[dirtboy]

Hey, I got no problem with a few insults being slung my way - but don't whine about my tone when you come into the thread with your initial post and use an insulting tone yourself. Makes you look like a weenie.

[dirtboy]

Did the economy grow by 2.4% or not...

Even Southack conceded my point on this one.

[bvw]

The next few weeks -- that will show the thing, I think, no words more to muster against what will be obvious to all.

[carton253]

Now I'm a weenie... (that's such a grown-up term)

[dirtboy]

The next few weeks -- that will show the thing, I think, no words more to muster against what will be obvious to all.

And this is the time to air out such issues - since we're not going to have a GOP presidential primary race this year, Bush needs to listen to the various factions in the party and reconcile their concerns, instead of just running further leftward now in pursuit of swing voters who won't remember what he did now when they vote in November 2004.

[dirtboy]

Now I'm a weenie... (that's such a grown-up term)

Like I said, I use the term that fits the poster. And those who dish it out but can't take it are poster boys for weenies.

[Southack]

"we still have the H1-B visa program going when there is clearly no longer a shortage of workers in this country. It should be killed. Now."

That's true, and I agree that it should be killed, but you are missing the bigger picture.

The H1-B talent that is coming in, although much hyped, is substandard talent. I know. Firsthand.

But when substandard talent can come in and do the same job for less, what is really going on is that the Market is recognizing that it had over-valued those jobs in the past.

So here comes the correction.

Yes, killing the H1-B program (and the L1 program, and the TN visas via NAFTA) will delay the inevitable decline of the IT industry. So if delaying the inevitable is your goal, so be it.

But eventually the shakeout is going to happen no matter what, and jobs that can be automated (e.g. many system admin jobs, numerous QA positions, countless coding jobs, etc.) are going to be mechanized away.

[dirtboy]

Well, if all you are reading about are IT people, then that shouldn't really surprise you.

Actually, I'm reading about quite a few people outside of IT. And, being unemployed last year, I saw the other side of this issue, the one you're not seeing. And those people may not be making a salary at the moment, but they will be voting come November 2004. And this issue will resonate with them.