U.S. short of skilled workers

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=12713b7741a8ffbf

Half of all human resource professionals polled in a survey say new workers lack competence, and that has forced hiring of non-U.S. residents.

Respondents to the Society for Human Resource Management survey cited overall professionalism, analytical skills, business knowledge and written and verbal communication as the skills new employees lack most frequently, the SHRM said Monday.

More than 25 percent of the respondents also indicate that there is a shortage of qualified candidates in positions that require degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. To address the skills shortage, 59 percent of represented organizations are offering undergraduate educational assistance, 55 percent were offering job-related skills training, 48 percent were offering graduate educational assistance and 38 percent were offering internships.
more...
38% internships this should be 75% because internships help train future employees...

If there was a shortage it should be pushing up salaries...but that hasn't happened because of outsourcing!!! Its Bull!!!

[Vincardog]

1. new workers lack competence For the wages they are willing to pay

[DBoon]

23. more like "students realize tech salaries will not pay off student loans"

and instead of skilled technology careers, either become lawyers, or skip college entirely

[MADem]

25. There ya go!!! So get your degree, and be willing, upon graduation

and for ten years following, to live in an apartment with six or seven roommates in conditions much inferior to a college dorm! That way you can save a bit of money, and afford a bride! Then, perhaps you can move to India (learn the lingo during those ten years, son) and find an affordable house! And a job at close to the same wages!!!

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Sure, provide an actual list of the companies with those complaints

...... I thought so.

[neuvocat]

3. Riiiiiight!

And the economy is booming. Why we all know all those stories about those long suffering recruiters who can't place people in high-tech jobs. I mean, all that stuff about the bad economy is just made up. In fact, the U.S. is so hard up for skilled labor that we'll just have to open the gates to outsourcing our jobs overseas. I mean, that's just exactly the reason why we had to outsource all those jobs in the first place, dontcha know?

[bemildred]

4. Hey, pushing the little buttons is complicated. nt

[katty]

62. Yeah and the most damaging shortage is parked in the Oval Office

[Deere_John]

5. Human Resource People Always Whine About Shortages...

...because they always want to be able to hire someone instantaneously, at substandard wages, who is a perfect fit for the open position and who will come up to speed instantly with no need for traning. If they can't do that then there's a shoooooooortage. Give me a break.

[Iris]

15. yeah. HR is for would-be teachers who wanted to be in "business"

n/t

[lovuian]

6. I believe foreign students may have trouble in these areas

"business knowledge and written and verbal communication as the skills new employees lack most frequently"

Now that could be a real problem if people can't communicate with each other!!!

[brokensymmetry]

7. What a hoot.

They want highly educated employees - with education defined as the procedures for their particular industry or company.

They want dedicated professionals - but only as part-time temps with no benefits.

They want employees with keen analytical skills - who are pathetically grateful to work for a pittance.

Show me a candidate that will end outsourcing, and I will show you a President.

[Megahurtz]

8. "new workers lack competence"???

and I suppose workers in other countries are "more competent"???
No you lying Repukes, you just want your fucking cheap labor
you lying, theiving, exploiting scum!!!:argh:

[lumpy]

9. Lack of skilled Congressional

and Presidential leadership also seems to be a problem. Lack of skilled workers? Of course this is a BS excuse to outsource jobs to foreign countries.

[katty]

63. Bingo

[ixion]

10. We got Intelligent Design... we don't need no stinkin' competence

:evilgrin:

Really, though, what do they expect? Oh, that's right. They expect professionals to sell heart/mind/soul for a few bucks an hour.

Gee, how very convenient for them. :grr:

[Demeter]

46. And for 80+ Hours A Week

and no overtime or comp time, either. Or health benefits. Or parking.

[sam sarrha]

11. there is a bigger shortage of money to go to college or Tech school

[sam sarrha]

12. I am certified to build electronic guidance systems for the Delta3 and cant

get a job as a janitor..for minimum wage

[sam sarrha]

14. planned obsolescence for an excuse to hire CHEAP foreign labor

[daleo]

13. And guys on barstools

Report a shortage of attractive women that will sleep with them.

That's about all these surveys of corporations' HR departments amount to.

[Coyote_Bandit]

16. BA, MA, MBA, JD

Now successfully unemployed for over 3 years.

Higher education is the most unrecofnized scam in the US - at least in the sense that the general population believes it should be positively related to employment. And that perception that is fed statements like this from various corporate and HR representatives.

[notadmblnd]

19. you know.. I made 60k a year working in IT with only a HS diploma

Job has been gone for a year and a half. I applied to a community college the other day and took my assesments and I was really surprised with the results. For a person who hasn't been to school in over 30 years, my english scores were 90 and 98. Now someone tell me that's not competent.

I decided to return to school because I won't be able to be employed at a McD's with only a HS diploma. I need to have that title next to my name if I'm going to go back to work by the time I'm 50 (that's my goal) I can only imagine what fun that will be.

[JusticeForAll]

24. Don't give up and don't sell yourself short

My wife, who also had only an HS degree four years ago, left a job for another at $65K in IT as well. Her age: 45.


She went back to school during the new job to complete her Bachelors in IT. She now makes over $130K with bonuses.

Good luck to you - although it is difficult, please don't lose hope.

[raccoon]

29. Sorry to hear that, Coyote Bandit.

How old are you?


"Higher education is the most unrecofnized scam in the US - at least in the sense that the general population believes it should be positively related to employment."

I agree, and it has been for a good while now.

"that perception that is fed statements like this from various corporate and HR representatives."

That perception is also fed by college marketing departments and other college employees. If people stop believing this, some of them might lose their jobs too.

[Coyote_Bandit]

37. 40 something

single, female, politically liberal, Christian. I live in a red state where they don't quite know what to make of me.

I've been willing to relocate, to change industries and job functions, to accept lower wages and entry level work. At least 80% of the inquiries I have had have been for direct straight commission sales work - and a large percentage of those have been of questionable character (as in under formal investigation and/or had large numbers of complaints filed against them). On several occassions where I have interviewed for salaried positions I have made it through the final round of interviews only to be passed over for an internal hire with no related experience or training who did not have to relocate. Heck, I've even been passed over for a part time job in a charity thrift store because they knew I would continue looking for something else.

It is all very frustrating. I've investigated lots of alternatives. Right now I am putting the finishing touches on a literary proposal for a book on faith and politics. Cross all your fingers and toes and send all your best thoughts my way if you would.

[raccoon]

41. Hope things go well for you in this endeavor! nt

[progressivebydesign]

66. Have you noticed the sales jobs open to the 40+ crowd are usually suspect?

My husband dealt with that a few years ago, when he was out of work. Every sales type job he would be offered, turned out to be scuzzballs and ripoffs. Apparently 40 is the new 70, when it comes to employment.

Best of luck on your venture.

[Daphne08]

45. Are you my son?

Seriously, my son has all the above as well, and he's working in a "hunting and fishing" store back home.

My youngest son lacks only 6 credits for his B.A. and he is about to throw in the towel! He's been working for years in a retail store (he's now the manager) and no longer believes his degree will help him in the least. I do think he'll eventually finish, but I can understand his anger.

[Coyote_Bandit]

49. I know I am not alone

As I mentioned above I am currently working diligently on a literary proposal. Long odds I know - even with a very different approach to a popular and controversial subject

I'm also considering going back to trade school. Realistically, even those options are a bit limited for a 40 something female with somewhat impaired vision who does not want to become a hair stylist, travel the arts and crafts circuit, or invest a large amount of time or money into further education and training. I'm considering learning how to groom dogs. Seriously.

I have come to view my education as being a liability and have long threatened to burn my diplomas. I figure I could take pictures and mail them in response to the unending alumni solicitations I continue to receive.

My best to your son. My guess is that he will need your support and encouragement to come to understand that his employment status is largely unrelated to him or his abilities and is, in fact, a reflection of larger socio-economic factors.

[Daphne08]

59. I will let my son know what you said. My best to you, too.

These are indeed challenging times.

[area51]

17. "If there was a shortage {of workers} it should be pushing up salaries."

Exactly.

The only place where there's a shortage of qualified individuals to work is in an alternate universe.

[HockeyMom]

18. Shortage of CHEAP Educated Workers

I can remember one time after my husband's job was offshored. He answered an ad for a programmer with a collete degree and at least 5 years experience. After the interview he found out this "small business" owner was paying, ready for this, $7/hour an hour. My husband told him he could work at WalMart WITHOUT a HS diploma for that, as he walked out the door.

I wonder who that employer got to work for him? Maybe a HIGH SCHOOL student part tme? Old saying, you get what you pay for.

[alfredo]

21. I think they are laying the groundwork for importing cheap

labor from India and other South Asian nations. I think bush is lifting restrictions on H1b VISA's

If you can't outsource jobs, you get a bunch of H1b Visa labor and pay them rock bottom wages and treat them like shit. Lose your job, lose your Visa.

[shanti]

20. omg, if i don't laugh, i will cry

:( this story takes the proverbial CAKE!!!!

[jwirr]

22. I suppose that * is trying to fix that by cutting student aid.

[taught_me_patience]

26. Utter B.S.

If there were a shortage, wages would be rising (which they are not). Hey are hiring non-U.S. residents because they are cheaper. Plain and simple fact.

[underpants]

28. My first reaction-this is an excuse to offshore and low wages

Total BS

[Starfury]

27. You're right, it's total BS!

...Engineering jobs in general are in decline, because the manufacturing sectors that employ engineers are in decline. During the last five years, the US work force lost 1.2 million jobs in the manufacture of machinery, computers, electronics, semiconductors, communication equipment, electrical equipment, motor vehicles and transportation equipment. The BLS payroll job numbers show a total of 70,000 jobs created in all fields of architecture and engineering, including clerical personal, over the past five years. That comes to a mere 14,000 jobs per year (including clerical workers). What is the annual graduating class in engineering and architecture? How is there a shortage of engineers when more graduate than can be employed?

Of course, many new graduates take jobs opened by retirements. We would have to know the retirement rates to get a solid handle on the fate of new graduates. But it cannot be very pleasant, with declining employment in the manufacturing sectors that employ engineers and a minimum of 65,000 H-1B visas annually for foreigners plus an indeterminate number of L-1 visas.

It is not only the Bush regime that bases its policies on lies. Not content with outsourcing Americans' jobs, corporations want to fill the remaining jobs in America with foreigners on work visas. Business organizations lie about a shortage of engineers, scientists and even nurses. Business organizations have successfully used public relations firms and bought-and-paid-for "economic studies" to convince policymakers that American business cannot function without H-1B visas that permit the importation of indentured employees from abroad who are paid less than the going US salaries. The so-called shortage is, in fact, a replacement of American employees with foreign employees, with the soon-to-be-discharged American employee first required to train his replacement.

It is amazing to see free-market economists rush to the defense of H-1B visas. The visas are nothing but a subsidy to US companies at the expense of US citizens....

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts03062006.html

[Lydia Leftcoast]

30. It happened in foreign language teaching in academia

Colleges have learned that it's cheaper to hire an M.A. from another country to teach foreign languages than to hire an American with a Ph.D. The best part is that the foreign M.A. goes home after two or three years, so you can hire another raw beginner on the bottom rung of the salary scale.

You might say, "Great, the students get native speakers."

Not so fast. While native speakers are great, even essential for intermediate and advanced speaking classes, they sometimes do not know how to explain their own language to American students. (If you dont' believe me, I'd like you to tell me how you, as an untrained native speaker of English, would explain to a foreign student the difference between "I ate a sandwich" and "I have eaten a sandwich.")

Furthermore, switching instructors every two years makes for a disorganized program that jerks the students around.

I saw the way things were moving in 1993, the last time I went on the academic job market. There were a bunch of us American academics in Japanese language and literature looking for new jobs, and the only people getting interviews were young Japanese women. An acquaintance who was looking for a job in Chinese language and literature said that the same thing was true in his area. Only young native speakers of Chinese were getting interviews.

That's when I made the decision to leave academia and become a translator. It was hard, and occasionally I miss being on a college campus, but it has turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.

[Starfury]

43. What about academia outside foreign languages?

I've been going to part-time grad school since 2000 at a couple different universities. Just my impression, but it seems like the percentage of professors at various departments who are foreign-born has been increasing. Maybe they're simply the best qualified collection of professors available, or maybe not. I'm really not sure how to judge that.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. In math and science at least, Americans have traditionally been able to

get better paying jobs in industry after an M.A. or even a B.A., so the graduate departments, and hence the professorships, have filled up with foreign students. That's been going on for a long time.

However, in academia in general, colleges and universities hae been trying to get by with as many part-time and temporary faculty as possible.

[raccoon]

48. That's certainly true in my neck of the woods (SC).

"colleges and universities hae been trying to get by with as many part-time and temporary faculty as possible."

[megatherium]

52. This is true. Where I teach, we collected some static from the

accreditation agency for over-reliance on part-time instructors (50% of credit hours). We hired more full-time lecturers.

I was last on the job market in 1994, in mathematics. It was a dreadful year, you had 50-50 odds of getting a tenure track position at best. (I was one of the fortunate ones.) We kept hearing, several years before, about the impending critical shortage of mathematicians, and other scientists and engineers. We even heard this in 1993/1994 when the job market was atrocious. Bullshit, of course, promulgated by universities to get more funding for their graduate programs (which produced more PhDs, which exacerbated the market). Later, the market did turn around (the dot com era combined with the long-heralded wave of boomers retiring).

In 1994, I heard a rumor, from someone in a position to know, that a large public university in Virginia had filled the equivalent of 30 full-time positions with 60 part-timers, foreign PhDs to a person. Not to put too fine a point on it, but this is illegal. The fellow who told me this declined to name the guilty university.

[shrike]

58. I know a full professor who teaches

And I congratulated him for his full course load.
He's well aware he's an anomaly -- he's on staff at a tiny, private, Catholic liberal arts college. Most professors, even the department heads, are required to teach.
He's not sure if they'll replace him, though, when he retires. They've already brought in part-time faculty to help with the course-load, and I suspect they'll go further in that direction once he retires.

[BiggJawn]

31. Offer shit wages, get shit applicants.

They're not getting quality applicants, or is it just that the Employers wonder why they're not attracting 3.9-4.0 students with their offered $25,000 starting salaries?

[primavera]

33. Odd, CEOs won't work for less than $50 mil/year...

... you'd think they'd have some appreciation for others not wanting to work for shit wages. Oh, but, of course, that's right, when you're sucking up 99% of the company's profit with your executive salaries, there really isn't a whole lot left over, is there? Damn, it's a good thing you can outsource those jobs; otherwise, a CFO might not be able to afford the payments on his twelfth palatial estate on the Riviera and, well, anyone can immediately understand why that would be totally unacceptable!

[BiggJawn]

38. You said it!

That's the downside of "networking". You get a rep for making insulting pay offers, pretty soon the word gets out there and all you get resumes from are the guys who were too stupid or stoned to get into ROTC...

And if these CEO-types justify their obscene salaries by saying they're so IMPORTANT to the company, then WHY, when they get their nut-sacks in the wringer, like Lay or Skilling, they're all of a sudden "I don't know what's going on under me, I'm the CEO, f'christsake!"

[Kber]

39. Pay peanuts and you get chimps.

the corollary to your above stated rule.

[sutz12]

32. They've been undermining education for years....

and now we're all under skilled? Right.

[primavera]

35. Tell it like it is!

Bravo! There's the real irony: we butcher our educational programs and then wonder why they aren't producing highly skilled graduates. Jeez, people, this isn't rocket science! Think about it!

[shadowknows69]

34. No skills whatsoever

I have an Associates Degree in Journalism. 7+ years radio experience,On-air and commercial production. I've written, scored, filmed, edited and directed TV commercials. Right now I drive taxi for a living. The economy is booming.

[shrike]

36. Shortage of workers for the wages they are willing to pay

[0007]

50. Guess who's running the country.

And then there's those jobs that Americans won't work, and only the Mexicans from Mexico can fill the void.

[Mithras61]

54. Well...

"...only the Mexicans from Mexico can fill the void."

It used to be that citizens filled those jobs. I get to travel a bit from my southeast TX home to visit my family in a far northern state. Funny thing is, we see road construction pretty much constantly here and there. Here, the crews are almost exclusively hispanic (and by choice, too... I've been replaced on more than ONE job because I wasn't hispanic). There, the crews are almost exclusively white or Vietnamese. Funny how those jobs in TX can "only be filled" by hispanics, huh?

[shrike]

55. Very true

In Florida, too. Non-union, lots of Hispanics, have no proof any of them are undocumented, but . . .

[raccoon]

61. South Carolina, too. nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

40. If Bill Clinton was still President, and I heard from one of you

"Hey, there's a vacancy for a skilled programmer here! Wanna move to the Yoo Ass?"

I'd seriously consider it. Now? No way in hell.

[raccoon]

42. A good response to the title of this article would be,

"in a pig's arse."

[Nomen Tuum]

47. But we know how to flip burgers, fry chicken and bake pizza

Hey, isn't that where all the future jobs are gonna be?

[Jose Diablo]

51. Human Resources, now there is a fancy name

Anybody else remember when they were called the Personnel Department. The name began to change when Raygun got in power.

Human Resources, bah. Even the name implies people are throw away items, just like the junk companies make today, designed to fail.

These HR people are shit. Always have been, always will be.

Maybe there does need to be a real civil war.

[Gormy Cuss]

53. I used to say essentially the same thing to my peers and co-workers

The change from Personnel to HR was intended to reinforce the notion that they are not acting in the employees' interests but are merely managing a corporate asset.

[Jose Diablo]

56. What it would take to change all that

would be to shut the whole money machine down.

There used to be a time when if the plant was shut-down because of a strike, the personnel manager was fired because he failed to make peace with the workers. The corporations these days have no fear whatsoever of screwing the workers. The workers have no power because the governments lax enforcement of labor laws. The government used to be sort of a referee between labor and the capitalists, now the government works on behalf of the corporations. This needs to change.

Again we come back to the right-wing conservatives during Raygun days bustin' the unions, and those turncoat Dems were right there with them also. The party needs to be flushed of the corporate hacks along with the the Republicans getting bounced out.

An old fashioned general strike needs to happen. However, things will have to get much worse before the people become motivated, through hunger, to do something about it.

It's gonna get worse, much worse.

[Gormy Cuss]

57. We need for worker bees to understand the power of collective action.

I agree with you that things need to get much worse before people will be willing to take the risks necessary in order to change things to a more balanced state.

[raccoon]

60. They're not acting in the employees' interests, that's for sure.

Tim Field, a Brit who has done a great deal to bring workplace bullying to people's attention, http://www.bullyonline.org/, said that the real purpose of HR was to keep the employer out of court.

[Gormy Cuss]

64. What's sad is when workers don't realize the nature of the relationship

until they go to HR looking for help and have their own words and actions used against them.

[raccoon]

67. Exactly. Somebody here on DU posted that when an employee

goes to HR, HR will then repeat EVERYTHING THE EMPLOYEE SAID back to their supervisors.

HR is not your friend, that's for sure, unless maybe if you are way up in the food chain.

[progressivebydesign]

65. I call total and complete BULLSHIT.

I know of thousands of unemployed engineers out there who are dying to go back to work. Don't these people REALIZE that by continually putting Americans out of work they are screwing over the workers of tomorrow? If you take away breadwinner jobs in America, the kids will suffer... children who live in poverty, live with the stress of unemployed parents, live without health care, will generally NOT become the skilled, educated, workers they say we need.

My biggest beef with the likes of Bill Gates is that he pushes to hire more foreign worker because he claims that US workers aren't well enough educated, and he wants to help the schools and education.. BUT he doesn't sesem to comprehend that by taking away jobs that the children's parents should be doing in AMERICA, he is hurting the kids and our educational system even further. Those employers CAN'T tell me that the phonebots I talk to in India are any better than the thousands of people who are dying to work in America. I have started a personal campaign to divest myself from any company sending those jobs overseas.. or recruiting workers to come here.