Posted on 11/28/2011 9:40:09 AM PST by SeekAndFind
We hear so much these days about the unemployment figures and the lack of good paying jobs for the disappearing middle class that it’s almost become the new normal. Combined with that, the plaintive cries from the OWS occupiers about the heavy burdens of oppressive college loans for graduates unable to find work have become a regular fixture in political discussions. Which is why it’s odd when we see the Wall Street Journal reporting on employers looking to fill relatively high wage jobs and having little to no success in finding takers.
Ferrie Bailey’s job should be easy: hiring workers amid the worst stretch of unemployment since the Depression.
A recruiter for Union Pacific Corp., she has openings to fill, the kind that sometimes seem to have all but vanished: secure, well-paying jobs with good benefits that don’t require a college degree.
But they require specialized skills—expertise in short supply even with the unemployment rate at 9%. Which is why on a recent morning the recruiter found herself in a hiring hall here anxiously awaiting the arrival of just two people she had invited to interviews, winnowed from an initial group of nearly five dozen applicants. With minutes to go, the folding chairs sat empty. “I don’t think they’re going to show,” Ms. Bailey said, pacing in the basement room.
Moe Lane jumps on this opportunity with a decision to send the kids to electrician’s school.
Or maybe it’ll be plumber’s school. Or welding. Doesn’t really matter: until people don’t have to spend tens of thousands of dollars a year to get poorly educated for white-collar jobs that don’t actually exist, some sort of technical training is looking more and more attractive. We’re always going to need electricians and plumbers, and they can improve their minds on their lunch breaks. Which they’ll get, because we’re always going to need electricians and plumbers.
It’s a valid point which we’ve made here before and always draw criticism for it. I’m not saying there’s no value to a college education. Having the right sheepskin and a willingness to work hard is absolutely a solid course for those with the ability to pursue it. But not everyone can and – increasingly – fewer and fewer are willing to look at lower cost but potentially productive alternate paths.
I’ve told this story before, but it bears repeating. Right in my neighborhood there is the son of one of my neighbors who finished high school several years back and went into an apprenticeship and technical school training program for heating and air conditioning. Within six months of graduating high school he had a secure, full time job which is bringing in some seriously good pay and benefits. Yes, the job involves hard work, finds him coming home covered in dirt and dust, and he frequently has to deal with irate, if not panicking homeowners. But he had no outstanding debt and at the age of 25 was already purchasing his first home. As his father tells it, he got a terrific rate on it, putting down a very substantial down payment.
The point is, there is still blue collar work out there to be done. And unlike many white collar jobs, a lot of it will never be able to be outsourced to other countries, as so often happens to computer programming jobs and others in related fields. Nobody is going to be able to log in to “the cloud” from Brazil and dig a new foundation for your home, wire it up, install the plumbing or put on a new roof. Those jobs will remain here at home.
I would once again suggest taking a look at Matthew B. Crawford’s wonderful book, Shop Class as Soulcraft. In it, he examines what he describes as “the value of work.” He also notes with dismay the decades long trend of high schools abandoning shop class and any other training for skills requiring the use of your hands. When schools began to push everyone to go to a university, they also seemed to scorn and delegitimize the trades, much to our detriment. And now we see jobs which could help rebuild the middle class going empty because we’ve forgotten the value of good old fashioned work.
Extreme example, yes . . . but not too different from your assumption that workers merely are waiting on the sideline. And taking a closer look at my example will lead you to understand why your assumption(s) are incorrect.
I don’t mind the personal stuff, really. It simply rolls off my back. Take the stuff that happened earlier on the read . . . I just imagine some old coot on his porch shaking his cane at me (and pining for the Confederacy).
Whether you or I think the overall package is a good one is immaterial - the people they want to hire evidently don't think it's good enough.
UP and other employers who whine about lack of workers are the flip side of the Occupier who whines about lack of jobs because he can't get what he thinks he's worth. UP and OWS both need to learn about supply, demand, and how the price system balances them.
The trouble with college graduates is that they seem to think they should start out as king and boss... because “they have a degree.”
Irrelevant, since the jobs under discussion don’t require a college degree.
read = thread
/rollseyes
Well, let's take a look at the flipside, professor. If the workers aren't there, then the employers could raise the wage to $250K/year and none would show up.
They did raise the wage, for at least three years. Why, if it didn't attract more workers?
Extreme example, yes . . . but not too different from your assumption that workers merely are waiting on the sideline.
Not an assumption - it's supported by the evidence you posted.
/rollseyes
Yes, yes, you're a mindreader as well as a labor market expert.
Enjoy your lonely life at Union Pacific. Management is a bunch of whiners. Everyone else willing to put up with those conditions will be working in the oil fields for three times the pay.
Yup, the flip side of the Occupy coin. "We can't find workers!" "We can't find jobs!" "WAAAAAAH ..."
So if I get good pay, I should turn it down because you think it’s not good enough? Doesn’t look like much of a business plan, from my perspective.
Oil companies pay top dollar for that risk. Union Pacific doesn't, but they do go crying to the Wall Street Journal.
...apparently “good pay” is $48K for physically demanding work that takes one away from home half the time. And note that the “desperate” UP won’t even pop for the $25 aptitude test.Just damn.Whether you or I think the overall package is a good one is immaterial....
Whether you or I think the overall package is a good one is immaterial....
You think you see a contradiction there? Spell it out, and I'll explain to you why you're wrong.
If you have a choice between two jobs with similar conditions, but one pays three times as much, I’m suggesting you should take the job that pays more.
That is why most on construction sites do not speak English.
This is a ploy. The goal is to justify hiring illegal aliens.
Its not just limited to construction and illegals. I’ve seen companies modify job descriptions to explicitly disqualify any non-H1B applicants.
Of course the H1Bs didn’t meet the requirements either but that didn’t matter. They worked cheap.
Not for these jobs. For these jobs, the goal is to justify hiring H1B visa holders after getting the number of H1B visas raised. Somewhat less bad for the average American, but not good for anyone but corporations that feel no allegiance to America.
I’ve seen companies modify job descriptions to explicitly disqualify any non-H1B applicants.
I'd be interested in more details, if you're willing.
it is really easy.
you throw in an obsolete programing language and a combination of talent/skills that are unlikely to be all in one person. “Must be able to program in X, Y and Z without the use of a compiler. Must also be able to use xerox punchcard programing computer input systems.”
close but not too obvious for a gov. pencil pusher to figure out.
I know some people who work UP dispatch jobs. Their hours are all over the map, days today, then tomorrow night, Thursday day, nothing regular from week to week. They can be called in at any time. They do not get their schedules very far in advance. Seems like if it is 24/7/365 type work, UP could at least put together some schedules that would allow employees to have something “normal” of a routine. This type of scheduling is wreaking havoc on the health of these people, and any planning they do for family events is always tentative. They are not earning that much money to go through this.
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