Lack of skilled workers threatens recovery?

Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100825/bs_nm/us_manpower_workers

They say that because of the push to get a degree in other professions is what is hurting the need for skilled workers such as plumbers, electricians, maintenance workers, carpenters, and welders.
What I have known is that many companies have opted to NOT hire family of current workers. We used to be a country of skilled laborers and usually the trades were passed down from generation to generation. When companies put into effect that they can no longer hire sons, daughters, or their spouses if the parent worked for the company, they lost generational knowledge and reduced their own skilled labor force,
What do think is the cause of such a loss?

Answer 1

Schools outright telling kids to not become skilled workers. Many college graduates think that diploma is a magic ticket to a 100K a year job. Funny that most skilled workers are doing better during these hard times than their "educated" friends and neighbors.

Answer 2

It is difficult to get into many of the fields that they mentioned in that article what with unions and etc..



Companies need to start training on the job if they are looking for a particular skill set. Whatever happened to taking an able bodied employee and training him?





Look at the want ads....'must have 2 years experience.....must have 5 years experience...' They all wont hire unless a person has many years of experience doing exactly what they are looking for. Then they complain that they can't find help.



Take a good bright kid and teach him the trade!

Answer 3

Too many people push their kids to college, even if they are entering a "dead end" degree program. Too many people wanting to sit behind a desk and get rich. Not enough young people learning trades. The best way to guarantee yourself a decent honest wage in our country is to be trained in a trade. Plumbers, electricians, welders, and carpenters can almost always find a job within their trades. Too many people out there with college degrees, huge amounts of college debt, and working out of class. At least they have that piece of paper.

Answer 4

Sorry, I don't click links but I get the gist of your question:



I think there are two reasons for lack of skilled workers.

First we lost jobs to China and other overseas nations.

I believe that now the financial section of our economy is greater than the manufacturing sector.

So a lower interest by Americans to pursue semi-/ and skilled work.



Secondly, somehow we came to believe that EVERYONE should go to college and that skilled manual labor was a sign of low intellect.



So now we have college students THAT SHOULDN'T BE THERE.

And if they graduate have nowhere to go.



Me?

I ended my working years as a truck driver.

Pays the rent and buys the food.

My wife and I are happy.

Answer 5

This happened in the UK a few years ago, as a result the demand for and therefore the wages for skilled tradespeople rose enormously, as people cottoned on to the fact that it was far more lucrative to be a plumber than a doctor loads of people trained to become plumbers, thus the wages stabilised and the economy balanced itself naturally.

Answer 6

How can human beings get skills while there are minimum salary regulations which esentially ward off human beings without skills to get a job, learn a commerce and earn greater moeny while they aquire greater means? Why hire somebody at $7.xx or however the minimum salary is, while their skills do no longer justify those wages. in fact, this is the monopolisitc commerce unions which like purely about all those regulations because of fact it prevents opposition

Answer 7

That may be true in the cities where the unions reign, but not so much in more rural america. Most of the companies here are generations of families doing this. Fathers ,sons, nephews, uncles etc. my oldest son is a heating and air service manager in a small company that is how they stay in business!

Answer 8

I don't think nepotism is the answer. Trades can still be passed down through generations, but daddy can't work with junior unless he owns the company. I don't think that's the problem. The problem is that so many of our skilled labor jobs were shipped overseas, coupled with the fact we've got a glut of college degrees of questionable value (infinite psych and comm majors, it seems).

Answer 9

The Unions. No one wants to work for these thugs anymore. Funny how it took an entire presidential initiative to get unions back to work, huh?



Who's not in the pockets of who again?

Answer 10

Why become a plumber when you can go to law school and sue people. Is America great or what.

Answer 11

Most companies offer low wages and do not have any kind of labor contract. I'd rather live out of my car than be taken advantage of.

Answer 12

money to pay for training.need money to take the classes