The Big Jobs Myth: American Workers Aren't Ready for American Jobs

[hay rick]

7. American employers aren't ready to pay Americans for their skills.

Best quote from the article: "When firms post job openings at a certain wage and no one comes forward, we call this a skills mismatch. In a different universe, we might call it a pay mismatch."

Two real reasons for not hiring:
1. Lack of demand in the economy. Employers can hold out for the perfect job candidate because most businesses are operating below full capacity and see little prospect of growth in the near future. If the perfect job candidate doesn't emerge, they don't have to hire anybody.

2. It is cheaper to hire the equivalent worker elsewhere.

Predictably, Obama buys into the business-preferred meme:

In his State of the Union speech, President Obama quoted conversations with businessmen who can't find qualified workers, and then proposed "a national commitment to train two million Americans with skills that will lead directly to a job."

I know the President is talking to businessmen who can't fill jobs with qualified Americans. I wonder how much time he spends talking to highly skilled Americans who saw their jobs sent overseas and can't find comparable replacement work with their suddenly "mismatched" skills?

Good article- K&R.