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In reply to the discussion: US Chamber of Commerce calls for ending extra unemployment benefits after disappointing jobs report [View all]PatrickforB
(14,516 posts)While it is predictable that the US Chamber would come out with this unkind and in fact merciless proposal, we have to look at the skill gap.
When I analyze gaps in my own region, for example, I find the top two jobs listed are software developer and registered nurse, and the top occupation groups in which there are too many job openings chasing too few people are healthcare professional and technical, and computer mathematical. These, of course, are jobs that require higher levels of skill and formal education.
Where we see the greatest surpluses are people who formerly worked in accommodation, food and drinking places, and brick and mortar retail. Unfortunately the skills these people have DO NOT MATCH the skills employers are demanding. So, you see a skill gap - a problem with the training pipeline, and a bunch of unfilled jobs with a group of people that are unemployed, but do not have the skills to fill those jobs.
It is not surprising Republicans and Chambers tend to thoughtlessly blame people for taking a 'paid vacation' on unemployment benefits, the reality is we have some fundamental structural shortfalls in our training pipeline. I would suggest this is politically motivated - another attack on victims of economic violence, another attempt to discredit the very safety nets that keep our economy going. Yet another attempt to gut government programs, so that the so-called 'invisible hand' of the market can solve all our problems through privatization and deregulation.
Those policies are really doozies on the ground, too. Look at what happened to Texans as a result of the privatization and deregulation of their power grid. A cold snap = a $14,000 monthly power bill. Predatory capitalism. Right out of Jack London's People of the Abyss.
Are the jobs out there? Yes.
Are the unemployed people out there? Yes.
Do the unemployed have the skills necessary to fill the open jobs? Not necessarily.
Should we blame the unemployed for not filling jobs they don't have the skills to fill? Nope.
Should we rethink our training pipeline to increase options for engaging in a number of types of upskilling? Make it affordable, debt free? Yep. But the market cannot and will not do something like that, will it? It will take government, which is the solution, not the problem.