If You're a Waiter, the Future Is Rosy

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/07/weekinreview/07steve.html

<snip>

But some economists point to those same federal forecasts to poke holes in the argument that the key to job creation is more sophisticated education and knowledge. Yes, the greatest increase is expected to be for registered nurses (an increase of 623,000 jobs) and college and university teachers (an increase of 603,000).

But according to forecasts issued last month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 7 of the 10 occupations with the greatest growth through 2012 will be in low-wage, service fields requiring little education: retail salesperson, customer service representative, food-service worker, cashier, janitor, waiter and nursing aide and hospital orderly. Many of these jobs pay less than $18,000 a year. Forecasting an increase of 21 million jobs from 2002 to 2012, the bureau predicted 596,000 more retail sales jobs, 454,000 more food-service jobs and 454,000 more cashier positions.

Forecasts like these raise fears that many Americans will end up disappointed after spending years and hundreds of thousands of dollars on college degrees. "The education-and-training solution, while it sounds good, is simply too facile," said Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research group. He noted that the number of Americans with college degrees who are unemployed for more than six months has quadrupled in three years.

Marcus Courtney, executive director of WashTech, a group of technological workers based in Seattle, voiced dismay that many highly educated workers in his city, with a 6.6 percent unemployment rate, are having a hard time finding jobs. "Seattle has one of the nation's best-educated work forces," he said, "and the notion that the solution is more education and skills rings hollow because if that were the case, then Seattle shouldn't be faced with one of the nation's highest unemployment rates."

[JohnyCanuck]

1. More retraining

I saw James Carville this weekend telling Russert on MTP that Shrubya wasn't spending enough money so that laid off workers could retrain for new jobs. Retrain them for what James? How to operate freedom fry machines in Mickey D's and Burger King?