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