Skilled labor: A troubling article

[GOPFighter]

Edited subject line

Just read a troubling article in the WP. Frankly, I find it hard to believe. I'm a manager who works for the federal government and we have had no trouble attracting bright, motivated, hard working young people. We recruit nation-wide and those who get hired must move to the Washington, DC area - a very high cost of living area. Even so, our starting wages are somewhat less than the $20 an hour mentioned in the article, even though we require a BA at a minimum.

Does this article ring true for the area you live in?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30139-2004Aug24.html

David L. Hurley is eager to hire new workers at his Florida surveying company and isn't asking for much: Only a dozen or so people with enough basic math to learn the software he uses to make blueprints, and enough basic sense to show up on time.

But after weeks of want ads and recruiting, he has drawn a conclusion: The workers aren't out there. While there are plenty of people who "can fog a mirror" and might be able to do grunt work on a survey crew for $8.50 an hour, Hurley said the economy has run short of people with the types of basic skills he could mold into a $20-per-hour survey crew chief.

"I would add 15 people tomorrow if I could find them," said Hurley, president of Landmark Engineering & Surveying Corp. of Tampa. "We need people with some knowledge of trigonometry and geometry. It's really just arithmetic. We're turning down work because we don't have the people."