5:53 pm February 28, 2012, by AJC Opinion
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
WTF?
February 29th, 2012
9:21 am
@Corey: With roughly fifty per cent of Americans agreeing with Ms. Palin, we’ve go some difficult days ahead.
….and the other 50% voted for Obama. That “Hope” & “Change” is working out great, eh? Perhaps this time you should actually turn on ‘your’ brain and elect someone with a brain.
jim
February 29th, 2012
9:11 am
everyone does not need to go to college or technical school.
who does the construction jobs? they start as a laborer, or apprentice and attend their craft school as they learn on job.
who is going to raise our fruits, vegetable, meat and process it prior to delivery to the store?
who is going to drive the delivery truck, stock it in the store and run the checkout?
who is going to build our homes and cut our grass?
barbyk
February 29th, 2012
8:47 am
hopefully, wyou will all go and sit in a class… (I have) kids dont care about learning ……that cant be failed……we are oppressing these illegals and wlefare babies… then why can aisans immigrate and go to the top of their classes. parents !!!!!
this is about making education a privlledge and not have it dumbed down for the folks who cant be bothered with their role as paretn(S) – maybe charge for undocumented folks and require participAtion from parents..
barbyk
February 29th, 2012
8:42 am
we cant train or educate – our schools are babysitters for illegals . teachers need to be able to teach english and math (in english) and have students who have families working to educate at home – including the wlefare moms.
sadly, we are slowly destroying our wonderful southern environment
Corey
February 29th, 2012
8:21 am
“We have to out educate, out innovate and out produce our competitors in order to win the future”, said President Obama. Sarah Palin responded, “WTF?” With roughly fifty per cent of Americans agreeing with Ms. Palin, we’ve go some difficult days ahead.
DeborahinAthens
February 29th, 2012
7:09 am
Back when Lockheed was still Bell Helicopter(I think it was Bell) my dad applied for a job. He had to use a mail order degree program (no Internet!) to get his aeronautical mechanics degree. I still have some of the little blue books filled with mathmatical equations. He couldn’t afford to go to college, which was sad, because he was one of the most intelligent people I have ever known. He worked at Lockheed his whole life–he died there when he was fifty-two. He worked on the C130s, as well as a few undercover planes that never saw the light of day like the Hummingbird. Not everyone should go to college, but our students, if they want to have manufacturing jobs should be able to learn the skills in technical schools. We have made the mistake of telling our little darlings they need to get degrees in the fine arts, which are “easy”, but which do nothing to prepare them for the real world. No one wants to get dirty, work hard, sweat…and when you’re on the assembly line, you can’t answer your cell phone. OMG!
Lib in Cobb
February 29th, 2012
5:21 am
President Obama has stressed the importance of post high school education/training, the GOP has ridiculed him for this idea, claiming he is a “snob”. In the job market of today everyone needs training/education post high school, no longer is a high school diploma or a GED adequate. A GED is nothing more than a certificate which shows that a person has the very basic knowledge of a high school graduate.
GA is woefully behind the education curve, regularly ranking at or near the bottom in several criteria.
High School Graduation rate: Overall 54% the very lowest in the US. I will also remind all who read this post, that GA is run by the GOP. We Liberal Democrats who support education have and do show much better results in states like MA.
Unemployed
February 29th, 2012
4:44 am
I sure wish that factory owners would allow the unemployed to train to work these jobs!
I would be the first one in line if these type jobs, or an apprenticeship, was advertised. Sadly, all the ads require already experienced workers and there seem to be NO entry level jobs (unless you count all the CraigsList scams).
For the disabled out of work, part of the reason why the disabled are forced into applying for disability (and I may have to join those sad ranks) is because employers do not trust the disabled enough to train them for a job.
Vladimir Putin was right – America wants servants, not allies, and that mentality absolutely shows in the arrogance of hiring managers and HR personnel who look down upon the downtrodden and do not consider the long-term unemployed for hire. Grr.
Sheshe
February 29th, 2012
1:25 am
@ Freedom Lover—Your comments, like Mary Ellen’s, are very well stated also. Yet, as we can read, some folks just don’t get it. Those of us who’ve lived during the time of economic “checks and balances” without the government having a hand (or giving a handout) in everything had premonitons about where our nation was headed once we contiued to see these things happening. Futhermore, no need to blame one President or the other. It takes more than one person to run the show. Greed and entitlement has destroyed this nation. (And this is from a female Black American, so don’t get it twisted!)
Sheshe
February 29th, 2012
1:02 am
@ Mary Ellen—You’ve hit the nail on the head!!! I’ve been voicing this same sentiment way before the economy tanked, but common sense (no, make that GOOD sense) is no longer used in this dumbed-down nation of educated fools we have in today’s society.