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November 22, 2005

Does This Have Anything to Do

...with that "personal accountability" and "challenging school curriculums/do the WORK" thingees we're always talking about?

America's ability to compete in the global economy is being undermined by a "serious shortage", of skilled workers in manufacturing industries, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

..."The pain is most acute on the front line, where 90 per cent report a moderate to severe shortage of qualified skilled production employees including machinists, operators, craft workers, distributors and technicians, said Richard Kleinert of Deloitte Consulting. Engineers and scientists were also in short supply, with 65 per cent of respondents reporting current deficiencies.

Posted by tree hugging sister at November 22, 2005 02:15 PM

Comments

As a manufacturing engineer, I can assure you that it's not really the fault of the schools, though I am loath to let them off the hook for their terrible educations.

The shortage is less a factor of education than it is in the myth that average people should have college educations and should be exempt from manual labor.

It's news to me that they're short engineers. Jobs are getting more available, but for three or four years there were hardly any engineering jobs being advertised.

Posted by: Mike Rentner at November 22, 2005 03:57 PM

Right on, Mike. And hand-in-glove with this is the ridiculous notion that working a trade doesn't require skill or intelligence. The ivory tower's snobbery and condescension towards the working class (see also, "Jobs Americans Won't Do") is not only nauseating, but self-destructive.

Posted by: Nightfly at November 22, 2005 06:03 PM

I have to concur with Mike and Nightfly. Schools do provide a lousy education, but many Americans feel that they don't have to work "low end" jobs, or opt for a "do nothing" college degree in the arts because that will get them a good job (disclosure: I used to believe that as well, many years ago, but it is a bogus line of reasoning).

Add in the fact that those same Americans expect to earn $70K a year right out of high school (God knows why), and this is of no surprise to me.

Posted by: The_Real_JeffS on Orcas Island at November 23, 2005 02:46 PM