Alleged ‘Skills Gap’ Takes Spotlight Off Who’s to Blame for Massive Jobs Shortage

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/10/21-6

Lately, the usual stream of stories about America’s jobs crisis has been displaced by a story about the shortage of crucial skills among the jobless.

This new narrative—fed by new studies from corporate sources like Deloitte & Touche—has seemingly displaced information about the plight of the unemployed. Suddenly, stories about the unemployed—except for jobless college graduates who are carrying part of the country's $1 trillion in outstanding student debt—have virtually disappeared from the mainstream media.

What’s happening to the growing numbers of “99-ers,” people whose unemployment benefits have expired? How are families and communities coping with a rising tide of mortgage foreclosures—that, as GOP presidential hopeful Michelle Bachmann of all people reminded us—painfully force families from the security of their “nests”?

Worry not, a new hook for economic coverage has arrived. A major study on the perils posed by the "skill gap" to our economy warns:

American manufacturing companies cannot fill up to 600,000 skilled positions, even as unemployment numbers hover at historic levels, according to a survey released Monday from Deloitte & Touche and The Manufacturing Institute.

More at the link --

[MrScorpio]

1. Here's the crux of the problem right here:

COMPANIES DON'T WANT TO PAY FOR BETTER SCHOOLS

CEOs like Caterpillar’s Oberhelmer feel free to demand that our schools produce well-trained workers. However, corporations like Caterpillar and GE are unwilling to pay the taxes necessary to support quality education for all children. These and other corporations have skillfully avoided paying any federal taxes in some years, and paying minimal taxes in others.

Caterpillar’s Oberhelmer used a frequent corporate ploy in response to tax increases in Illinois. Despite massive increases in profits for the Peoria-based firm, he sent a letter to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn with a thinly-veiled threat to relocate the corporate headquarters because of a 2 percent tax increase for wealth executives.

Without corporations paying their fair share of taxes, how can they expect a top-notch workforce?

Let us be clear: more education, training, and skills for the unemployed will not produce job opportunities when Corporate America is unwilling to invest in new U.S. jobs, despite the deceptive arguments presented by corporations and allies like Friedman and Zakaria. Nor will public education be able to improve for the children of poor and working-class children when corporations like General Electric and Caterpillar use blackmail threats of relocation to reduce their taxes.

[SharonAnn]

3. Maybe this is the crux. They want cheaper labor. Skilled people aren't cheap/

"Astoundingly, Zakaria says this is because the U.S. workforce is not well enough educated. He quotes Pimco bond fund founder Bill Gross as saying that: "Our labor force is too expensive and poorly educated for today's market place."

It's the TOO EXPENSIVE that is the real issue. They want cheaper labor.

[leftstreet]

2. K&R

[HughBeaumont]

4. "Skilled" = dog whistle for "Better Be Skilled at Working For Peanuts, Peons!"

These douches are fooling NO one.

[seabeyond]

5. someone tell me just what career to plan for the next decade. i have two sons hittin college

and we would like to know what they need to study so they can get out of college and find a job.

[FarCenter]

6. Unemployment by major

http://www.studentsreview.com/unemployment_by_major.php3

beware small numbers in many majors.

[FarCenter]

8. For area job seekers, not all college degrees are created equal

Keep fretting, parents: The college major your children pick will indeed have a big impact on their career options.

While that may not seem like an earth-shattering revelation, a Bee analysis of new Census Bureau data lays out the stark contrasts between chosen disciplines in illuminating detail. Is your child, for instance, thinking about …

… a philosophy degree? Philosophy graduates in California last year were about five times as likely to be unemployed as nursing graduates.

… ethnic studies? Computer engineering graduates in California typically make twice as much.

… a drama degree? Theater majors were about eight times as likely to work in the food services industry as those with accounting degrees.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/11/20/3199703/for-area-job-seekers-not-all-college.html

---

Also beware of employment data in the first years out of college. A sound education in fundamentals is necessary as the basis for continuing education that will enable the student to change specialties, employers and even occupations over a 45 year career during which the world is certain to change markedly.

[alc]

12. foreign language, global economics

Good understanding of supply chain, distribution, and marketing plus management skills will all be needed in many emerging markets. There will be 1-2 billion consumers outside the US compared to 300 million in the US for most products - so that's where companies will focus investment and expansion. And while they may have manufacturing set up for export, and distribution set up for major cities, companies are not yet ready to sell to the entire population. Companies who get that done first will likely be the global leaders and able to purchase competition - that's why it's important for US companies to expand and invest in those regions.

[OhioChick]

7. This "skills gap" is a steaming pile of BS n/t

[FarCenter]

9. Yes, a lot is really basic stuff like showing up, taking direction, attention to quality, etc.

Getting along with co-workers, treating customers right, etc.

[Brickbat]

10. When you hear about "not enough skilled workers," that really means "not enough skilled workers who

are willing to be paid like unskilled workers." You get what you pay for, motherfuckers.

[joeglow3]

13. No, no, no, no, no. You are all wrong

That is why we need illegal immigrants - "they work the jobs Americans refuse to work."

[kenny blankenship]

11. American workers lack the relevant skills necessary for success in global job market

Specifically they do not know how to survive on $170 US per month, which is what it takes to attract employers these days. I recommend frustrated applicants lower their unrealistic expectations and begin looking into the skills of possum & squirrel trapping, and the construction of weatherproof lean-to structures.

[WinkyDink]

14. Deloitte & Touche: Must I be the first to transpose the appropriate letters here?

[rfranklin]

15. You mean Toilette & Douche?

Gentle cleansing action to amke a pile of crap smell sweet?