Workers in the skilled trades, such as
electricians, welders, and machinists were the hardest for
employers to find from 2010
to 2012 and the second hardest
in 2014, according to surveys by the human resources consulting
firm ManpowerGroup. This problem is likely to continue
because a majority of the workers in these professions
currently are 45 or older.
Genevieve Stevens, an administrator for Houston Community
College at Central College, articulated how we got into this
predicament and offered a way out of it when
she spoke to Houston
Chronicle:
“For two or three generations, the focus has been to go to
college, get a degree and in doing so you will ensure a brighter
future with more access to employment. We started focusing on
academic instruction, but left behind the notion of work-force
education. However, in a two-year institution that costs less, the
average work-force student can come out of that program with skills
to gain immediate employment.”
But President Barack Obama’s
new plan to decrease student debt will only make the problem
worse since there is a deficit of workers in skilled trades,
but a surplus of people with college degrees. Neal McCluskey of the
Cato Institute reported
last week that a third of graduates with a bachelor’s degree
are in jobs that don’t require the credential. Underemployment is
even worse for people with graduate degrees. He writes:
“In the name of helping them, federal politicians, and many
other people, massively oversell higher education to the detriment
of students.”
Government influence on higher education has already unbalanced
the supply and demand of the labor market enough. Obama’s plan to
try and make college more accessible will only serve to exacerbate
this problem and further widen the skills gap that currently exists
in the job market.
Reason TV spoke with Dirty Jobs‘ Mike Rowe about the
skills gap:
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