The great STEM worker shortage - a zombie lie that never dies

[jmbar2]

I started researching this supposed shortage over 20 years ago when I was doing labor market research for a university. Ron Hira has been writing about it for longer than that.

Labor market "shortages" are not shortages, anymore than expensive oranges are orange "shortages". These insidious lies can cause people to misinvest in education and training, and to take on student debt that cannot be repaid.

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Is There Really a STEM Workforce Shortage?
By Ron Hira

In 1959, economists Kenneth J. Arrow and William M. Capron published an article responding to complaints of a shortage of scientists and engineers, noting that “in view of all the discussion of the ‘shortage’ problem, it is remarkable how little direct evidence is available.” Fifty-five years later, in 2014, demographer Michael S. Teitelbaum wrote: “The alarms about widespread shortages or shortfalls in the number of US scientists and engineers are quite inconsistent with nearly all available evidence.

Frequently, the main stakeholder groups steering these conversations—businesses, universities, and government research agencies—benefit from the push to train and import more STEM workers. Others, including students and workers, rarely have their interests formally represented in these discussions. So even though numerous reports, analyses, books, and news articles have carefully examined demand and supply in the STEM workforce and labor markets over the decades and found no widespread or lasting shortages, perceptions of such shortages endure.”

https://issues.org/stem-workforce-shortage-data-hira/

[gab13by13]

1. I can envision Musk

picking engineers from China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.

[uponit7771]

2. EXACTLY !!! WSJ - "IT Unemployment Hits 6% Amid Overall U.S. Jobs Growth"

[jmbar2]

4. Thanks for posting that!

Perhaps Elon and Vivek will deliver the killer blows needed for people to understand this ongoing scam.

[uponit7771]

8. Yep, I worked in IT, this subject won't go away ... We can stoke and make them eat it

[dalton99a]

3. There is a shortage of experienced STEM workers willing to work for McDonald's wages

[jmbar2]

5. If they are lucky enough to get McDonald's wages

Or any job at all! The hiring situation in the US is completely broken.

It's Taking Unemployed Americans More Than a Year to Find a New Job

The study, which is based on the responses of 100,000 job seekers and employees, found that 44 percent of job seekers had been out of work for over 12 months. "It's been awful," one job seeker said in the survey. "I've sent 125 applications in a year and have gotten a few freelance gigs, but not a full-time job to live comfortably (and we are not flashy people)."

https://www.reddit.com/r/recruitinghell/comments/1hmr1s0/its_taking_unemployed_americans_more_than_a_year/

This subReddit is a great place to track what people are really experiencing in the job market. It's horrifying what they are being put through.

[uponit7771]

9. EXACTLY IT ue rate is 6% !!!!

[CrispyQ]

6. There's another thread about Musk's "dire shortage" warning.

I thought getagrip_already nailed it in their response, here.

https://democraticunderground.com/100219853705#post5

[eppur_se_muova]

7. There is only a shortage of good jobs with decent wages, job security, and benefits proportional to the effort and ...

... expense on the part of those who pursued the extensive education necessary to fill those jobs.

Most academic jobs advertised nowadays are for "adjunct", temporary, short-term contract, non-tenure track, and often part-time positions. After more than 10 years of chasing such mirages, I've decided not even to apply to them. If you want to hire people to do difficult, challenging work, PAY THEM APPROPRIATELY.

Industrial jobs are little better -- they advertise for candidates with years of experience in several different specialties, knowing that anyone who fits that job description already works for them or their competitors. But if you have experience in, say, only four out of the seven specialties they're looking for, they're willing to negotiate down to a position with much lower salary, benefits, and job security ...