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Quote:
This is the point that I think Sigma, Dan and Tex are missing. Sigma, Dan and Tex seem to equate a college degree (and other professional training) with high wages, and assume that low-wage earners simply failed to get the education needed to earn higher wages. But that is a false assumption.
I understand that quite well, thank you. My wife has been either unemployed or severely underemployed (as in $7/hr) for almost a year now.
However, that's not entirely the fault of the economy or of our capitalistic society. She has a degree in History and experience (albeit little) in Public Relations and that's where she wants to work and it was her choice to get a degree that's not exactly in high demand. There simply isn't demand for her particular skillset right now and she can't find a decent job.
But that's not to say there isn't plenty of other well-paying jobs left unfilled, because there definitely is. With my skillsets I would likely only be without a job for a few days if I was laid off tomorrow. There are millions of other positions just like mine, that go unfulfilled for weeks or months.
My own company can't find enough field supervisors. These are no experience necessary, $60,000 to start, full-benefited positions and all you need is a 4-year degree. And few people apply. We can't even meet 25% of what we need to have. We'd hire from the glut of people with BCIS or Computer Science degrees if they wanted to do the work. But they don't want to do that work. They want to program. Is the government supposed to step-in and make sure there's plenty of programming jobs for all the Tech guys we've got sitting around, or are these people supposed to realize that their particular skills are no longer in demand and they need to adapt to the market?
Let's assume you don't have a degree -- we're hiring over 3,000 people this year, needed all over the nation, to start at $21.19/hr (and a $25,000/yr benefit package) to do various work. Requires nothing but a GED and the ability to pass a drug test (a whole lot harder to find than one would think). And most of our locations are in places where $21/hr goes an incredibly long way.
Guess what? We can't fill all the needed positions. The work is "too hard". It's railroad work, it ain't always easy. And requires working hard for an honest living. People would rather live off government assistance. You'd think if the way people were living was "so bad" they would actually be 'desperate' enough to take whatever work they could get -- particularly when it's paying $45,000/yr plus benefits with zero education needed. The solution is that we need to offer more pay -- but you end up with scenarios were the union guys are making more than their exempt supervisors, which makes it impossible to keep supervisors on board. Which means we have to pay everyone more -- and that's not exactly an easy task, although it is being done. Time will tell whether or not we can afford to raise wages enough to actually get people to work for their money anymore.
And this is far from an isolated case. Hundreds of employers are facing the exact same scenario. They have extremely well paying jobs to offer but either people just don't want them or they have a degree in something that either never was in demand, or was the particular fad at the time, only to now be unemployable and are unwilling or unable to get different training.
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I feel Guilty, Oh so guilty
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If it takes 15.00 minimum to live in California, and people are making 10.00 they should move to a majority of the country where 7-10.00 wages are common place and allow for a frugal yet very comfortable living.
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Originally posted by sigma:
we're hiring over 3,000 people this year, needed all over the nation, to start at $21.19/hr (and a $25,000/yr benefit package) to do various work. Requires nothing but a GED and the ability to pass a drug test
I am gonna fail this one 
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Originally posted by R_G:
Originally posted by sigma:
we're hiring over 3,000 people this year, needed all over the nation, to start at $21.19/hr (and a $25,000/yr benefit package) to do various work. Requires nothing but a GED and the ability to pass a drug test
I am gonna fail this one
Actually approximately 40% of our applicants can't pass a drug test.
And people wonder why they can't find decent work.
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Wow Caltour...about every assumption you made about my thinking in this is wrong...
But letting that go for sake of brevity...an end to outsourcing IMO will not fix the problem and in the end will likely have a more negative impact on the ecomomy, GDP, and jobs than a positive one.
POPE..Min wage...you can raise it to meet "above poverty line" levels if you want. Say $25/hour. And health insurance. And 401Ks. You will see massive lay offs and business closures.
I think "in general" it very dangerous to tamper with free trade, free market economy, and supply/demand equations. I just do not see non "greedy capitlist" solutions working out very often. I do not disagree with the GOAL of good paying jobs for all, just the approach. This is not to say that in some instances, under some conditions, we do not limit outsourcing..but as a general solution..not good.
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I was JK. I had to pass the goddamn test, and got my starting rate of $22/hour + sizebale benefit package. This $22.00 becomes $33.00/hour when OT is involved, and $36.00/hour when this OT involves shift differential. However I had to go to school for 2 years to get that, and NJ cost of living is higher that the one in TX.
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Originally posted by R_G:
I was JK. I had to pass the goddamn test, and got my starting rate of $22/hour + sizebale benefit package. This $22.00 becomes $33.00/hour when OT is involved, and $36.00/hour when this OT involves shift differential. However I had to go to school for 2 years to get that, and NJ cost of living is higher that the one in TX.
Still, $22-36/hr for a 2-year degree. Not a bad deal at all. My wife will never come close to that and she's got a 4-year degree and $30,000 in student loans to pay off.
And actually very few of our positions are in Texas. We operate in 19 states, and actually pay is adjusted for the cost of living if you were working in, say, Los Angeles.
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Originally posted by sigma:
I understand that quite well, thank you. My wife has been either unemployed or severely underemployed (as in $7/hr) for almost a year now.
However, that's not entirely the fault of the economy or of our capitalistic society. She has a degree in History and experience (albeit little) in Public Relations and that's where she wants to work and it was her choice to get a degree that's not exactly in high demand. There simply isn't demand for her particular skillset right now and she can't find a decent job.
But that's not to say there isn't plenty of other well-paying jobs left unfilled, because there definitely is. With my skillsets I would likely only be without a job for a few days if I was laid off tomorrow. There are millions of other positions just like mine, that go unfulfilled for weeks or months.
My own company can't find enough field supervisors. These are no experience necessary, $60,000 to start, full-benefited positions and all you need is a 4-year degree. And few people apply. We can't even meet 25% of what we need to have.
Let's assume you don't have a degree -- we're hiring over 3,000 people this year, needed all over the nation, to start at $21.19/hr (and a $25,000/yr benefit package) to do various work. Requires nothing but a GED and the ability to pass a drug test (a whole lot harder to find than one would think). And most of our locations are in places where $21/hr goes an incredibly long way.
And this is far from an isolated case. Hundreds of employers are facing the exact same scenario. They have extremely well paying jobs to offer but either people just don't want them or they have a degree in something that either never was in demand, or was the particular fad at the time, only to now be unemployable and are unwilling or unable to get different training.
Sigma, can you fill us in on those jobs that your company can't get enough applicants for? Maybe a link would help.
And where are these "hundreds" of other employers who can't get enough applicants? Most people I know in So. Cal. are tired of fighting this tight job market, and would love to live where employers actually WANT more applicants.
Here on the coast, with our dense population and fierce competition for jobs, your depiction of plentiful jobs sounds like a parallel (and much better) universe.
Just a question: why doesn't your wife take one of those $60,000 jobs? She has a college degree, so she qualifies.
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Originally posted by Dan Nixon:
Wow Caltour...about every assumption you made about my thinking in this is wrong...
Sorry, Dan. Didn't mean to overgeneralize.
Originally posted by Dan Nixon:
...an end to outsourcing IMO will not fix the problem and in the end will likely have a more negative impact on the ecomomy, GDP, and jobs than a positive one.
Why?
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