Lack of 'skilled workers'

[opebo]

Factory jobs return, but skilled workers scarce - NYTimes

I always think when I read this sort of story - why on earth do companies think they should be able to just pick people up already 'self-trained', at their convenience?

We need to require that companies not only train workers fully and continuously throughout life, but make a commitment to them which means they have absolute security in terms of job, health, and retirement.  It is offensive that the owners treat workers like fatted calves.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

There are plenty of skilled workers, just not enough skilled HR people.

[Torie]

Factory jobs return, but skilled workers scarce - NYTimes

I always think when I read this sort of story - why on earth do companies think they should be able to just pick people up already 'self-trained', at their convenience?

We need to require that companies not only train workers fully and continuously throughout life, but make a commitment to them which means they have absolute security in terms of job, health, and retirement.  It is offensive that the owners treat workers like fatted calves.

This "we need" stuff reminds me of that John Nance Garner quote, that what we really need is a good 10 cents cigar. Corporations are not a welfare agency Opebo. That is why God created overpaid public employees.

[angus]

I'm a bleeding heart too, of sorts.  I have purchased, at WalMat at some expense, a large bag of algae pills.  I always want to feed them to my plecostomus.  I think that we keep the light off to much, or clean the tank too much, and that he doesn't have enough algae to suck on.  Then, I notice the long, thin trail of excrement trailing from his intestinal vent as he swims about in the aquarium.  Not trying to be insensitive, but I can't help thinking that anyone with a three-inch trail of shit following them probably isn't starving.  And if I drop too many algae pills into the aquarium, the plecostomus will surely die.  So we only give him one every five days or so and he's doing just fine.  Big, black, scary, and he's a damned fine tank scrubber.  

[Ban my account ffs!]

Factory jobs return, but skilled workers scarce - NYTimes

I always think when I read this sort of story - why on earth do companies think they should be able to just pick people up already 'self-trained', at their convenience?

We need to require that companies not only train workers fully and continuously throughout life, but make a commitment to them which means they have absolute security in terms of job, health, and retirement.  It is offensive that the owners treat workers like fatted calves.

This "we need" stuff reminds me of that John Nance Garner quote, that what we really need is a good 10 cents cigar. Corporations are not a welfare agency Opebo. That is why God created overpaid public employees.

Then how shall people be trained?  By magic?

Please explain to me how it is sustainable to have an economy where the only thing holding it up is massive government and individual debt while corporations expect government to train their employees and pay their benefits while they skim profits off of our borrowed money and pocket most of it (the top 0.1%, that is) while the rest goes to building factories in China to replace the American ones.

The game of "race to the bottom!" needs to end.

Really, Torie.  I want a clear, concise explanation as to how this system is sustainable in the long term.  I've thought about it a lot.. but somewhere the whole thing collapses like a house of cards every time when any one part of that equation is removed.  And I believe we've seen that with the debt crunch.

This can only lead to one thing:  Economic collapse

Sure, after the collapse is over, new people will reset the game and build new companies and the American people will once again prosper.  But with these neo-liberal economic policies and free trade in a world with incredible inequality, it can only once again lead to a crash.

It's time the government gets into the business getting up in these companies' business to ensure the long term prosperity of our country.. the company be damned.

[opebo]

Factory jobs return, but skilled workers scarce - NYTimes

I always think when I read this sort of story - why on earth do companies think they should be able to just pick people up already 'self-trained', at their convenience?

We need to require that companies not only train workers fully and continuously throughout life, but make a commitment to them which means they have absolute security in terms of job, health, and retirement.  It is offensive that the owners treat workers like fatted calves.

... Corporations are not a welfare agency Opebo.

But that's precisely the point, Torie - welfare agencies are exactly what they are.  They provide unearned income to your class, extracted from the hides of the workers.

[phk]

Not a good situation tbh.

Laid off factory workers can't immediately fill in dental assistance jobs without training and govt training programs are fairly dismal. Grim.

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/07/are-there-jobs-no-workers

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[opebo]

Hah, $15/hour?  Here we have the essential problem at the bottom of every economic trouble and social ill in our sad slave-camp of a society.

[Derek]

Here is why there is a lack of skilled workers in this country. All throughout high school you're given the impression that if you don't make it into college after graduation, then you're going nowhere. Jobs at steel mills, plants, construction jobs, they're all viewed as second class growing up when the fact of the matter is that there's alot of money to be made in those areas. I used to inspect construction projects and the workers made more than 50% more than what I made. At the same time, standards for getting into college have become easier IN THE NAME OF fairness which has deflated the value of a college degree in America. We have a lack of skilled workers not only because some of those jobs don't exist anymore but more so because of how they have been viewed by society. What this country needs is to make it harder to get into college, lower costs of tuition but limit loan qualifications, and invest in more trade schools. By limiting loan qualifications, students will not be contributing to our national debt like they have been and those who are only there for the "college experience" will be WEEDED OUT. Too often people choose college because it's the next stage in life or because they want to be what they perceive as "above" skilled labor jobs. I'll tell you what, there's nothing wrong with skilled labor and I've met some laborers who were as smart as the engineers who designed the projects.

[phk]

Of course. Job creation isn't having a symmetric effect on job destruction and there is a skill mismatch.

A laid off factory worker or textile mill worker will likely never get his job back, because of either outsourcing or of technological change. Though the job opening for physical therapist at a clinic, something he would want to do, likely doesn't match his skill set.

Grim is the fact that government training programs aren't good and private sector isn't willing to train him.