Apple Goes On A Hiring Spree In China

[seabeckind]

28. I think you might be falling into the MBA mindset

Even if we were to reduce the supply of labor, ie, the boomers, we are still left with the reduction in demand, ie, the availability of the midrange jobs. You see, that's where we are lacking.

The automation and robotics have made it possible for the job "givers" to reduce those midrange jobs to ones that can be outsourced. During the 80's and 90's the investment in the automated factories was done overseas, especially in the very cheap labor markets. We still have the very high end knowledge worker jobs (at least where the MBA types haven't come to believe that a knowledge worker with an American innovative mindset is equivalent to a 3rd world workers ability to follow orders) and the very lowend service jobs but the ones in the middle are gone.

The answer of course is to let the engineering types have more say in the decision making process. I, too, have worked alongside H1Bs and have found them lacking. Where someone raised where it's possible to fashion new solutions as necessary, the H1Bs tended to stay inside the box -- even when it became obvious that the problem wasn't in the task, it was in the definition of the box.

But now? The MBAs are pushing for more H1Bs. They are pushing to move the line further into the knowledge area. This article is an example. Recently Apple was downgraded in their innovative ranking. Boeing has lost much of its engineering and productivity (article couple days ago about the cost of their relocation to SC), Microsoft is withering in the boardroom, etc.

In order to correct the problem we need to seriously redefine our job roles and bring back that midrange. Just losing the boomers isn't a help...in fact, like some places where I worked that had a goal to reduce employee costs by getting rid of the more experienced (higher paid) they soon found that there was a lot of knowledge walking out that door and it wasn't replaced.