2/29: Skilled-labor shortage a crisis
Moderated by Rick Badie
Wanted: Blue-collar workers. Machinists, toolmakers and such. As the manufacturing industry rises tepidly, a skilled-labor shortage has been declared a regional crisis.
Today, an economics expert addresses the state’s response to the issue while a Kennesaw factory owner experiencing an increase in orders wants to hire but finds talent scarce.
What do you think?
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28 comments Add your comment
SAWB
February 29th, 2012
12:11 am
A few years ago the company I worked for relocated leaving several hundred folks out of work. A number of them went to the local Technical College to be “re-trained”. Now, keep in mind these were experienced manufacturing employees who needed maybe some math and computer courses to prepare them for more high tech manufacturing jobs. However, they were advised and steered into Business Management, Hospitality and Construction degree programs. These folks spent the next two or three years getting an associate degree and now are unable to find a job as they compete with candidates who hold bachelor degrees.
The Technical College system is focused on pumping up and maintaining high enrollment to get state funds instead of doing individual career focused advisement. There is also a disconnect between what we are training people for and the jobs that are available. The Department of Labor, Chamber of Commerce and Department of Adult Education need to do a much better job of coordinating the re-training of the unemployed. Technical Colleges should be held accountable for actual job placement and not just enrollment.
lynnbo
February 28th, 2012
10:51 pm
After decades of illegal workers willing to work for lower money while receiving welfare, what do you expect to happen……..we have lost generations of people who would have learned a skill from their dad or mentor. Instead millions of Americans where displaced and this will have generational consequences. Why train for a skill, our open borders will just let your job be taken by an unethical worker who will work for less. Workers have no incentive to train in trades only to be loose later.
Chris Salzmann
February 28th, 2012
10:26 pm
Here’s another one, 30 of our largest corporations paid more to lobbyists than they paid in taxes. These include companies like GE, Wells Fargo, Fed-Ex, Corning, Dupont, Boing, Pepsico, etc. In fact, over the last decade, GE paid taxes at an effective rate of 2.6%.
These are FACTS. And you still buy into the myth that corporations are too highly taxed and their taxes should be reduced???
Chris Salzmann
February 28th, 2012
10:18 pm
Hey Freedom Lover: You want the government out of the economy and out of your life, then move to Somalia. The law of the jungle works there and I hear it works very well.
Hillbilly D
February 28th, 2012
10:00 pm
We’ve had panics/depressions/recessions, every few years, dating back to the 1700’s. They’re nothing new.
Freedom Lover
February 28th, 2012
9:53 pm
This is what happens when government intervenes in the economy. It wasn’t enough to let people decide for themselves what they wanted out of life. The government had to step in, print money out of thin air, back student loans with the future of taxpayer’s earnings, and improperly encourage everyone to go to college while at the same time racking up debt for themselves and huge loan profits for the government’s friends in the banking industry. Yes folks, that’s exactly what happened. Additionally, the enless supply of available funds (certainly way more than would be available in a sound economy based on real savings and sound currency), encouraged and allowed prices for college to go through the roof. Sound familiar? The same thing happened when idiots like Bush and clowns like Frank and others encouraged everyone to own a home and put up taxpayer monies to back wreckless loans to the unqualified.
There is a system of economics that balances the future will of the consumer (measured by savings rates) with the needs of the entrepreneur (when he is looking for signals on investments, etc.) and that system is the free market. There is no Federal Reserve in a free market, no bailouts, no government loan guarantees, no printing of worthless money, no social maniupulation through price fixing (interest rates), or tax codes (savings deductions for college savings), or anything of the sort. In a free market, people and businesses make decisions based on market signals, and while there is no nirvana, there are not bubbles in housing and student loans and massive dearths of skilled labor to meet manufacturing and production needs.
It is high time to get the government OUT of the economy so it can run like the beautiful masterpiece that it is.
Rasheeda
February 28th, 2012
9:26 pm
This seems impossible, given the large number of Vo-Tech graduates and the still high unemployment rate. Maybe it’s time for businesses and/or the State Labor Department to do some heavy duty recruiting in high schools to let the kids know about these career opportunities.
Bernie
February 28th, 2012
7:29 pm
Not only do we have a shortage of skilled workers. There is also, a real crisis of politicians who like playng doctor too! They seem to know more about women’s health issues than the women themselves.
How ironic is that?
Hillbilly D
February 28th, 2012
7:21 pm
There was a time when that factory owner would have hired people and trained them, letting them work their way up the ladder. Everybody expects instant gratification, now, including factory owners..
Mary Ellen
February 28th, 2012
6:55 pm
Not EVERYONE needs to or should go to college. Those who have an interest in a career that does not require a college degree are often ignored because schools measure their success by how many graduates go on to college. Those who choose a technical career should be encouraged (and respected!) just as much as college-bound students, since these jobs are ESSENTIAL for a balanced economy, and in many cases, technical careers PAY BETTER than academically-based careers. I’ve seen plenty of PhD’s who don’t make squat and who don’t even have a clue how to check the oil in their cars, so where would they be without their mechanics, who sometimes make better money than the PhD!?