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Showing Original Post only (View all)Krugman: When a business owner complains about being unable to find workers, ask how much he pays. [View all]
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/the-fake-skills-shortage/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=autoThe Fake Skills Shortage
Kudos to Adam Davidson for some much-needed mythbusting about the supposed skills shortage holding the US economy back. Whenever you see some business person quoted complaining about how he or she cant find workers with the necessary skills, ask what wage theyre offering. Almost always, it turns out that what said business person really wants is highly (and expensively) educated workers at a manual-labor wage. No wonder they come up short.
And this dovetails perfectly with one of the key arguments against the claim that much of our unemployment is structural, due to a mismatch between skills and labor demand. If that were true, you should see soaring wages for those workers who do have the right skills; in fact, with rare exceptions you dont.
So what you really want to ask is why American businesses dont feel that its worth their while to pay enough to attract the workers they say they need.
Kudos to Adam Davidson for some much-needed mythbusting about the supposed skills shortage holding the US economy back. Whenever you see some business person quoted complaining about how he or she cant find workers with the necessary skills, ask what wage theyre offering. Almost always, it turns out that what said business person really wants is highly (and expensively) educated workers at a manual-labor wage. No wonder they come up short.
And this dovetails perfectly with one of the key arguments against the claim that much of our unemployment is structural, due to a mismatch between skills and labor demand. If that were true, you should see soaring wages for those workers who do have the right skills; in fact, with rare exceptions you dont.
So what you really want to ask is why American businesses dont feel that its worth their while to pay enough to attract the workers they say they need.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
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Krugman: When a business owner complains about being unable to find workers, ask how much he pays. [View all]
backscatter712
Nov 2012
OP
They use that lame-ass excuse to import cheaper labor from overseas, even though the same skills
Ikonoklast
Nov 2012
#4
In addition, some good workers smoke weed. After the drug test, out they go. nt
morningglory
Nov 2012
#5
i'm convinced the whole 'shortage' narrative is the first wave of an effort to
HiPointDem
Nov 2012
#15
Collusion rather than competition. This is what you get when you let a few big companies control
Egalitarian Thug
Nov 2012
#42
The federal government is the only real solution. If left to the states, many, if not most, will
Egalitarian Thug
Nov 2012
#45
Think outsourcing is anti-American, take a look at insourcing. Far more cynical, IMHO.
libdem4life
Nov 2012
#16
So, he could've led by lowering his salary to that of VP's in "Brazils and Koreas".
SharonAnn
Nov 2012
#54
Why would any smart high school kid study computer science in college...
TexasBushwhacker
Nov 2012
#56
Externalizing expenses is a big part of this scam as well. Corporations lay off every dime they can
Egalitarian Thug
Nov 2012
#46
This is great and I've used it in conversation. I also add that it's funny how businesses owned
Lint Head
Nov 2012
#50
I'm not aware of a list. It's a statement alluding to the fact that Republicans are the ones
Lint Head
Nov 2012
#67
I am experiencing new unreasonable demands on my reasonably priced skill-set. They are looking for
patrice
Nov 2012
#51
That's a very perceptive question: why it isn't WORTH their while to pay what it takes to get
patrice
Nov 2012
#52
An insurance broker I know complained he can't find a good office manager for $10/hour.
SunSeeker
Nov 2012
#53