Experts: There's No Worker Shortage

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

One explanation for the stubbornly high unemployment rate is that businesses simply can't find workers with the right skills to take the jobs. On Sunday, the Washington Post reported as many as 600,000 jobs are unfilled in the manufacturing industry, despite millions of jobs lost in the past decade. Some experts call this claim "deeply misleading," reports Lila Shapiro for Huffington Post. "I do not find any credible evidence of anything approaching a shortage in manufacturing workers anywhere in the country," said Andrew Sum, a professor of economics at Northeastern University who specializes in education and the labor market.

Posted by DARTHCHENEY at 09:31 PM | 49 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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DARTHCHENEY

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Joined 2005/09/23
Visited 2012/05/15

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Shapiro reports:

"If there was a big shortage of workers, than we should find wages rising. But this just isn't the case," Sum said. "That doesn't mean that specific companies won't ever have trouble finding a machinist, but when you add it all up, it doesn't amount to very much." ...
Over the past 30 years, experts say, most in-house training programs at manufacturers have disappeared. The programs have never been entirely replaced, even as private and public training programs have been created, with a wide range of success in employment placement. Recently, more companies have looked to states to train their workforces.
North Carolina, for example, spent $1 million to develop a custom curriculum at a community college for workers at a Caterpillar plant. The primary beneficiary, the New York Times reported, was Caterpillar itself.

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North Carolina, for example, spent $1 million to develop a custom curriculum at a community college for workers at a Caterpillar plant. The primary beneficiary, the New York Times reported, was Caterpillar itself.

Corporate welfare will still find a way, Even as government revenues continue to decline, as wages stagnate or go backwards.

#1 | Posted by Whatsleft at 2012-02-22 10:41 PM | Reply | Flag:

End the 'guest worker' program until there's full employment for Americans.

#2 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2012-02-23 01:10 AM | Reply | Flag:

This merely probes that the "job creating" 1% are actually not hiring Americans whatsoever, never were, and still won't.

#3 | Posted by redlightrobot at 2012-02-23 05:55 AM | Reply | Flag:

The manufacturing companies want workers that are fully trained and skilled to work for peanuts.

#4 | Posted by schmanch at 2012-02-23 07:14 AM | Reply | Flag:

From article: ...shifts the blame for the jobs crisis onto workers who lack skills, and away from cash-rich companies declining to hire.

No company has an OBLIGATION to hire anyone! Its goal is to increase net revenues. When sufficient DEMAND exists, and it makes fiscal sense to add employees.. it should do so. The ONLY reason to hire a single additional worker is if by doing so, it will result in at least a penny more in profit.

#5 | Posted by dockj at 2012-02-23 07:51 AM | Reply | Flag:

Yet, lying lobbyists convinced Congress to create Visa programs to bring in cheap foriegn labor, skilled and unskilled. Quotas were created and completely ignored. This holds down wages, which is the whole point. Class warfare, plain and simple.

There's big money in lying. Rethugs excel at this. Here are things they do not want you to know.

1. There is no such thing as a free market
2. Companies should not be run in the best interest of their owners (or managers).
3. Most people in rich countries are paid more than they're worth.
4. The washing machine has changed life more than the internet.
5. Assume the worst of people and you shall receive their worst.
6. Greater macroeconomic stability has not stabilized the world economy.
7. Free market policies rarely make poor countries rich.
8. Capital has a nationality.
9. We do not live in a post-industrial age.
10. The USA does not have the highest standard of living in the world. (many socialist countries beat us).
11. Africa is not destined for underdevelopment.
12. Governments pick winners.

#6 | Posted by nutcase at 2012-02-23 08:22 AM | Reply | Flag:

By definition, people who were never trained cannot be RE-trained. It's impossible to take a useless welfare fuck and turn him into a productive citizen.

#7 | Posted by fwthom at 2012-02-23 08:26 AM | Reply | Flag:

By definition, people who were never trained cannot be RE-trained. It's impossible to take a useless welfare fuck and turn him into a productive citizen.

I know this because my Dad shouts it out every time Mom comes down those creaky stairs and brings me some milk and cookies.

#7 | Posted by fwthom

#8 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2012-02-23 08:40 AM | Reply | Flag:

#6 | Posted by nutcase at 2012-02-23 08:22 AM | Reply | Flag: bolshevik idiot

#9 | Posted by paneocon at 2012-02-23 09:01 AM | Reply | Flag:

Government picks the winners and losers? What a load of crap. Here's an idea. If you think the "company monsters" are so bad. THEN STOP BUYING OR SUPPORTING THEIR PRODUCT! Banks (bury your money, Insurance companies (go without) , gas (buy a horse) Buncha whiny ass welfare losers who actually need the government to tell them what to do. Got way to many hugs and not enough kicks in the ass growing up. Americas 2008 brain fart lives on. NOBAMA 2012.

#10 | Posted by tkrammer82 at 2012-02-23 09:02 AM | Reply | Flag:

By finishing the 8th grade, young Dok Sarvis had gone to school longer than anyone in his family or neighborhood. And although he couldn't read or write, Sarvis was being trained as a crack runner in line to move up in the gang because of his "higher education". He also worked part-time during the election season stuffing ballot boxes for the Democrat Party. Sarvis was on his way to deliver some dope to Baby Momma Jones when he stopped to pick up some trash on the neighbor's lawn. "Leave dat shit alone! Puts it bacl where it belong! Are youse trying to acts uppity?" yelled the neighbor. "Sorry, I forgots where I live", exclaimed Sarvis.

After years of dope dealing and several jail sentences, Sarvis decided to sign up for a local government RE-TRAINING program. "But It's impossible to re-habilitate people who were never habilitated", exclaimed the program director. "Just pretend it's working so we can keep the Federal money rolling in", said his boss. "Start by teaching this Young Sarvis how to wipe his ass."

#11 | Posted by fwthom at 2012-02-23 09:15 AM | Reply | Flag:

Boy, when you get ass-kicked, Fussball Wanking Thom, it really shows!

#12 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2012-02-23 09:17 AM | Reply | Flag:

It seems to me like the companies would just train the people they need. Pick out the best candidates who will be loyal to the company and train them. Seems pretty easy to me...

#13 | Posted by boaz at 2012-02-23 09:26 AM | Reply | Flag:

Failed Writer Thom.

#14 | Posted by Corky at 2012-02-23 10:08 AM | Reply | Flag:

AIG, Citicorp, BofA, Diebold, Goldman-Sachs, Morgan-Stanley, Monsanto, Ross Perot, United Defense, BP, Exxon-Mobile, Bloomberg are just some of the Government picked winners.

Lehman didn't get picked did they?

You rightie tighties must be like these sheep.

www.youtube.com

#15 | Posted by nutcase at 2012-02-23 10:10 AM | Reply | Flag:

It seems to me like the companies would just train the people they need. Pick out the best candidates who will be loyal to the company and train them. Seems pretty easy to me...

#13 | Posted by boaz at 2012-02-23 09:26 AM

They don't, they have the it done at taxpayer expense in programs tailored to these companies all while giving these same companies tax incentives and other subsidies. It's like having the US government train soldiers to fight for Israel.

#16 | Posted by DARTHCHENEY at 2012-02-23 10:11 AM | Reply | Flag:

Manufacturing is less and less manual, more automation. This trend has been going on since the 80's and is growing even in countries like China (Foxconn) where people work for pennies. It is no longer a good career path like it was in the past.

But -- with automation you need machinists, PLC programmers, etc. These are the skills that are in short supply. A good CNC machinist in Upstate NY is very employable at a fair wage. A line worker? Minimum wage at best.

This is not going to change and people that pine for the return of the good old days are only going to be disappointed. Even if Levis were made in the USA again -- they would not be made by lines of toiling humans. The fact that they returned to the USA would be great, better than what it is, but not the same as before.

The way the lefties blame and what they blame never ceases to amaze. Good thing you all are not Doctors, we'd be gargling Listerine to prevent heart atacks.

#17 | Posted by FrankA at 2012-02-23 10:42 AM | Reply | Flag:

The way the lefties blame and what they blame never ceases to amaze. Good thing you all are not Doctors, we'd be gargling Listerine to prevent heart atacks.

#17 | Posted by FrankA at 2012-02-23 10:42 AM

You're an idiot. The thread is about how some in the private sector are successfully extorting the taxpayer in a down economy.
As to your other bloviations, the only way that cheap labor in Asia is profitable to US companies is if these companies are allowed to import goods duty-free back into the US, not because of some miracle of free market capitalism. God knows these underpaid slave workers can't afford any of the gadgets they put together.

#18 | Posted by DARTHCHENEY at 2012-02-23 10:52 AM | Reply | Flag:

It seems to me like the companies would just train the people they need. Pick out the best candidates who will be loyal to the company and train them. Seems pretty easy to me...

#13 | Posted by boaz

Tell you what Boaz, find some way to convince the corporations to do exactly what you've prescribed and I'll be the first to pat you on the back for it.

#19 | Posted by Whatsleft at 2012-02-23 11:18 AM | Reply | Flag:

Another case of liberals and conservatives arguing over who sunk the USSA Titanic.

Hint. There was never and there will never be a system of politics capable of managing a market economy. Enjoy the Depression.

#20 | Posted by Ray at 2012-02-23 11:20 AM | Reply | Flag:

Here is the simple truth: Contrary to what lifelong Rethuglican Geithner turned Independent in order serve under Obama says, the state our economy is not an "accident". It has been carefully planned for decades. The planning is based on Milton Friedman's and Hayek's right wing Libertarian economic theories and they are an abysmal failure, for everyone except those in on the planning. The reason they are a failure is Friedman's and Hayeks theories are bullshit. The reason they have acquired so much prestige is they pander to the wishes of the ruling class who reward their promoters generously. The reason these promotions are so successful is people in this country are raised to hold many ridiculous beliefs sacred.

We are near the end of a planned demolition, a process which has enriched the planners. It is unsustainable for reasons some righties correctly assert. But the current plan in Europe and the USA is to continue to beat every last dime out of the working class before each economy defaults on its debts. For the ruling class defaulting tommorrow is better than defaulting today. Another word for this class warfare. Compound interest rules, without producing anything real.

#21 | Posted by nutcase at 2012-02-23 11:23 AM | Reply | Flag:

#21 | Posted by nutcase

Hayek? The author of "On the Road to Serfdom"? You should read it, Nutcase. It was a warning about the rise of Fascism during the time he wrote it. It's just as applicable to the rise of fascism in this country. You are as clueless as a liberal.

The planned demolition of the US began under Progressives with the creation of the Federal Reserve and income tax withholding. Have a nice economic depression.

#22 | Posted by Ray at 2012-02-23 11:40 AM | Reply | Flag:

As an IT guy I have to chime in on this. As many as 60 thousand good paying SAP and Oracle jobs have been lost to H1 visa's from India. They have stifled domestic opportunity and flooded us with a wave of foreign labor which inevitably tugs along with it a horde of anchor babies and family and friends, literally changing the culture of many cities. If you like Indian food, restaurants are not as hard to find in San Diego as they used to be.

Indian universities are often nothing more than trade schools focusing on skills that will pass them off as competent with the explicit intent on selling those skills in America. (Makes me leery of Indian doctors etc too.) And if you are an Indian you are more likely than ever to land your first American IT job since the person doing the hiring is also Indian. (One guy I worked with got his training on the internet. The Indian manager would never have hired a white guy with those credentials.) If you are white, or American, they are more likely to scrutinize your education, your work history, and your background.

#23 | Posted by RADICALRANDY at 2012-02-23 11:53 AM | Reply | Flag:

#23 | Posted by RADICALRANDY

While we are all obsessed with Mexican day'laborers sneaking across the boarder, a tsunami of Chinese and Indian immigrants are overstaying their visas and taking some of the best paying jobs in the country.
-------------
I consulted for database company that did the same thing they let all the Americans go and hired Indians. They saved a ton of money until they screwed it up, then they had to hire consultants like myself who charged them a ton of money, and when it was all said and done, they lost money, and they let the Indians go and hired Americans.

My experence is if they're incompetent they won't last.

#24 | Posted by 90c2cab at 2012-02-23 12:31 PM | Reply | Flag:

Everyone wants a manager job and none want to learn how to work!!!!!! We are handing out too much unemployment bennies and way too much welfare. Why work when you can sit at home, watch football, and drink beer?

#25 | Posted by Sniper at 2012-02-23 12:32 PM | Reply | Flag:

Ray,

Friedman invented income tax as a payroll tax deduction. The push to create the Federal Reserve came from JP Morgan, Rothschild... in other words the ruling class of Capitalists (.001%). Norway and Sweden otherthrew the .001% and have enjoyed nearly a century of prosperity.

If you think Friedman, Rothschild...etc are progressives I have a bridge to sell you. Aren't you confusing the term neoliberalism, which is a right wing philosophy?

#26 | Posted by nutcase at 2012-02-23 12:35 PM | Reply | Flag:

#24 | Posted by 90c2cab at 2012-02-23 12:31 PM

I've encountered similar situations.

#27 | Posted by DARTHCHENEY at 2012-02-23 12:35 PM | Reply | Flag:

I never have trouble finding gardeners or maids or escorts or people to clean the pool. Lots of workers available in my neck of the woods.

No citation necessary.

#28 | Posted by BradfordWinston at 2012-02-23 12:35 PM | Reply | Flag:

#24 | Posted by 90c2cab

We need to get rid if most of the liberal arts shit and start producing nore engineers. We also need to stress trade schools more vwhere they learn some skills that are in demand. Welders, pipe fitters, machinests, etc.

#29 | Posted by Sniper at 2012-02-23 12:47 PM | Reply | Flag:

#27 | Posted by DARTHCHENEY at

#24 | Posted by 90c2cab at 2012-02-23 12:31 PM

I've encountered similar situations.
--------------
Darth, Dell Computer moved their call centers to India, and they got so many complaints about the language problem they moved them back.

#30 | Posted by 90c2cab at 2012-02-23 12:47 PM | Reply | Flag:

#29 - Sniper. I agree but American universities are partially to blame for this situation too. They want to sell degrees in computer science or business information systems or whatever while oblivious to the fast that employers want specific skills. Indian students learn Oracle and SAP, companies don-t care if they ever built a compiler.

Even worse American universities also pride themselves on being worldly-diverse, dare I say at the expense of true Americans. They will go out of their way to register foreign students and also foreign students are often more aware of handouts and how to exploit the system.

I was in the back of a taxi the other day with some ex-military kid driving it and I was amazed at how oblivious and ignorant he was of how to go about pursing an education.

#31 | Posted by RADICALRANDY at 2012-02-23 01:26 PM | Reply | Flag:

If you think Friedman, Rothschild...etc are progressives I have a bridge to sell you. Aren't you confusing the term neoliberalism, which is a right wing philosophy?
#26 | Posted by nutcase

Friedman? Friedman is not Hayek. You won't find me defending Friedman.

Progressives were in bed with the bankers going back that far. That's how it became law. Get a clue.

#32 | Posted by Ray at 2012-02-23 01:39 PM | Reply | Flag:

Darth, Dell Computer moved their call centers to India, and they got so many complaints about the language problem they moved them back.

#30 | Posted by 90c2cab at 2012-02-23 12:47 PM

The company I worked for decided to invest millions in design centers in China and India while taking every opportunity they could to lay off engineers in the US. They hired inexperienced people in Asia by the truckload without much regard for qualifications. Predictably it was a disaster and already understaffed design groups in the US now had to also clean up the messes left over by their Asian counterparts. The most valuable employees just left on their own, many after giving the company decades of good work. The company is now a shadow of it's former self. On the bright side all of the executives who agreed with the CEO's drive in Asia got to keep their cushy jobs and the CEO got himself a pretty amazing golden parachute when he decided he needed to 'spend more time with the family'.

#33 | Posted by DARTHCHENEY at 2012-02-23 01:51 PM | Reply | Flag:

Anyone who believes there is a worker shortage has to be a re-tard.

#34 | Posted by moneywar at 2012-02-23 01:51 PM | Reply | Flag:

Just recently I worked for a British IT company that makes 99% of it 's profit off American companies yet out-sources 90% of its jobs to India. They were proud to announce that they were on a hiring binge of 30 people a month - all in India. The whole thing is despicable and no one will do anything about it.

We should:

1. Cut visa times from 7 years to 1 or 2, if not put a temporary halt all together.
2. Penalize (dare I say tax) companies for every job filled by a visa.
3. Incentivize (new word?) companies (dare I say subsidize) any job that could be outsourced while that employee is in a training mode.
4. Reward companies that return a job to an American citizen.

#35 | Posted by RADICALRANDY at 2012-02-23 02:43 PM | Reply | Flag:

#27 | Posted by DARTHCHENEY at
#24 | Posted by 90c2cab at 2012-02-23 12:31 PM
I've encountered similar situations.

Yup. The pharmaceutical industry is exactly the same. Loads of unknowledgeable chemists testing all of the products.

"We need to get rid if most of the liberal arts shit and start producing nore engineers. We also need to stress trade schools more vwhere they learn some skills that are in demand. Welders, pipe fitters, machinests, etc. Sniper"

The problem is that anyone who works hard and earns a technical degree quickly realizes they would have been better of sailing through college with a business degree. Corporations don't pay scientist a salary commiserate with the amount of effort required for the degree.

#36 | Posted by schmanch at 2012-02-23 02:44 PM | Reply | Flag:

Are you insane or just posting a joke?

I will assume a joke because it would take a real moron to claim any socialist country has a higher standard of living, maybe you should visit a few of them or at least obtain some friends in those places and ask them how wonderful it is, instead of the claims they are socialist utopias as filtered through the liberal media or the elite democrats visits to these places going from ivory tower to ivory tower.

You do realize the two most economically prosperous places, Hong Kong and Singapore, were in fact poor places in the past and became wealthy precisely because they are not only a free market but currently the two most economically free places on earth, which also debunks your belief the capitalism doesn't make poor countries rich. Did you notice China has gone from total poor socialist nightmare to the second largest economy because they have in fact been freeing up their economy for the last decade?

Government only picks losers because they pillage those losers for the politicians benefit.

Maybe you missed the last 100 years of socialism completely destroying countries, killing millions and leaving the rest destitute, except for of course, progressive liberal elite socialists who actually believe these ridiculous comments you posted.

Oh and you must not know what Capital is, it value placed on time, skill and property, not sure where a stupid comment like Capital has a nationality comes from. Sounds like you are just trying to come up with additional newspeak for some sort of manifesto. The mistake you socialist make is your insane belief that Capitalism is a political system or that a political system is an economy. They are actually not related.

#37 | Posted by priddseren at 2012-02-23 03:17 PM | Reply | Flag:

#37 | Posted by priddseren at 2012-02-23 03:17 PM

If you can't keep your ignorance to yourself you could at least stick with the topic of the thread, dumbass.

#38 | Posted by DARTHCHENEY at 2012-02-23 03:36 PM | Reply | Flag:

If you can't keep your ignorance to yourself you could at least stick with the topic of the thread, dumbass.
#38 | Posted by DARTHCHENEY

Translation: It's your fault I have no understanding of capitalism. Nor do I care to learn.

#39 | Posted by Ray at 2012-02-23 03:45 PM | Reply | Flag:

Translation: It's your fault I have no understanding of capitalism. Nor do I care to learn.

#39 | Posted by Ray at 2012-02-23 03:45 PM

Fuck off you washed up troll.

#40 | Posted by DARTHCHENEY at 2012-02-23 04:01 PM | Reply | Flag:

Ray,

To me Thatcher-Hayek, Reagan-Friedman, they're all of the same school.
I have, but have never read "The Road to Serfdom". It was Thatcher's rationalization for dismantling England's public sector, an outcome that has irretrievably complicated the Brits lives and raised their cost of living.

I don't see how you can distinquish between Hayek and Friedman, but then I'm just assuming Thatcher interpreted Hayek correctly.

#41 | Posted by nutcase at 2012-02-23 04:40 PM | Reply | Flag:

I don't see how you can distinquish between Hayek and Friedman, but then I'm just assuming Thatcher interpreted Hayek correctly.

Because I know them better than you. What politicans say and what they do are two different things. Reagan talked like a libertarian. Bush talked like he was protecting freedom. Doubletalk is a basic skill in politics.

I have, but have never read "The Road to Serfdom".

Highly recommended. It puts together a lot of thoughts you haven't connected.

#42 | Posted by Ray at 2012-02-23 05:13 PM | Reply | Flag:

Fuck off you washed up troll.
#40 | Posted by DARTHCHENEY

I bet your IQ is below a hundred.

#43 | Posted by Ray at 2012-02-23 05:14 PM | Reply | Flag:

To show their anger the left rushes out to buy any Apple product they can get....so they can post/text their frustration!

#44 | Posted by DavetheWave at 2012-02-23 05:54 PM | Reply | Flag:

Then they have their President honor Steve Jobs wife, while Apple employs over 90% of their employees (subs) in China!

And don't forget to bash big oil. After all they don't have an American workforce...no, wait....

#45 | Posted by DavetheWave at 2012-02-23 05:56 PM | Reply | Flag:

Who, other than the politically connected, would risk money with the Obama's at the helm?

Nobody trusts this guy, and they never will.

Obama might indeed succeed in lowering fossil fuel consumption, and has, but for all of the wrong reasons.

#46 | Posted by BloodSacrafice at 2012-02-23 08:36 PM | Reply | Flag:

"I bet your IQ is below a hundred."

#43 | POSTED BY RAY AT 2012-02-23 05:14 PM | REPLY | FLAG: LONELY

#47 | Posted by LetUsPrey at 2012-02-23 09:57 PM | Reply | Flag:

even in countries like China (Foxconn) where people work for pennies. It is no longer a good career path like it was in the past.

#17 | Posted by FrankA at 2012-02-23 10:42 AM | Reply | Flag:

Please, if you are going to make posts that attempt to be thoughtful, learn what the fuck you are talking about, first.

#48 | Posted by vernon at 2012-02-24 10:04 AM | Reply | Flag:

Anyone who believes there is a worker shortage has to be a re-tard.

#34 | Posted by moneywar at 2012-02-23 01:51 PM | Reply | Flag:

I'm making tons of money thanks to the worker shortage.

I recruit highly qualified foreigners to take jobs Americans won't do: research lab specialists and critical care nurses are my most profitable areas.

""If there was a big shortage of workers, than we should find wages rising. But this just isn't the case," Sum said."

My recruits are quickly approaching $100,000 per year salary, plus signing bonuses and huge benefit packages.

#49 | Posted by vernon at 2012-02-24 10:18 AM | Reply | Flag: