9 in 10 small business owners say there's a lack of qualified job applicants in
motorhead
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For 35 years people with common sense have been warning of this. The US educational system sucks. The US ranks 36th in math. (2018 rankings)
It’s not like this should be a surprise
It’s not like this should be a surprise
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But at the base, we've got a legion of social media-addicted, ADHD kids who are learning gender confusion while Chinese and Indian kids learn STEM. How are they going to compete in an interconnected world?
We're living Brave New World. We've anesthetized the masses with easy sex (I know we're hypocrites here), porn, football (the modern gladiator games), legal marijuana, social media, and video games.
Few things are certain in life, but one thing we can be certain of is that businesses will never say "no, please, we don't need more qualified applicants, then employees couldn't complain about work conditions without fear of being replaced".
That said, no harm in trying to do better. I think we've been assuming more is better. The education bureaucracies encourages this, since the longer they have their mitts on the students, the more bloated they can become. I suspect most kids could learn basic reading, math, science, and civics in K through 10 rather than K through 12. University education was originally designed for people who were going to inherit enough wealth that they'd never need to work for anyone else. I work in IT, and went to a public university. At most a third of my classwork was relevant to my job, probably more like a quarter. I'm not saying the other stuff was useless, but it, along with the relevant stuff, was mostly paid for out of public tax money, which is wrong. Tax money should be spent on more crucial things, or else taxes should be lowered. Once kids learn the basics, taxes should only pay to teach them work-relevant skills for a particular trade. Any other education should be a private not a public expense.
~ Eugene Victor Debs
~ Born November 5, 1855 Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.
~ Died October 20, 1926 (aged 70) Elmhurst, Illinois, U.S.
Any time there is a real career being offered, like Firefighters, there are a thousand applicants for each available position. What Color is Your Parachute 2020 talks about both of these issues.
And things like UBI, welfare, food stamps, or other public assistance programs make the rich richer, the money gets siphoned upwards. You only need to raise high income taxes in order to get this back.
SJG
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I went through a 5 year apprenticeship and became a tradesman. I watched my money, paid my bills, and saved for retirement.
I live comfortably now, but the government seems to want to take my money and give it to the lazy lumps that can't get a job that pays a good wage.
But government taxation and spending is what keeps our economy going. If you have wage or business income, you should be thankful for that taxation and spending.
Otherwise we become no different from a third world country, a few very rich, and the rest very poor.
SJG
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I have posted many times about good paying jobs in the construction industry going begging for people to do this labor, it pays north of $30 per hour with full benefits, overtime regularly available, paid vacations and offers anyone willing to do the work diligently a good life and the ability to have a family, a nice home, and a secure retirement.
SJG
SJG
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Raising the minimum ways to $15 is not supposed to make a McDonald's cashier catch up to the wage of a plumber or similar skilled worker. The plumber's wage is supposed to go up too. I think the idea is that we depend on credit to generate a lot of consumer demand currently. So wages can go up for low and middle income people without inflation. They'll just borrow less, and also have money to save for a house down payment or retirement. But nobody really know, they need to raise the minimum wage small steps at a time, and back off if inflation starts spiking.
It's very dangerous to buy into simplistic outrage about wealth inequality. If everyone's ATF has all her teeth, but yours is missing one, that doesn't mean you'd be happier if your ATF and everyone else's had no teeth. Better to just figure out how to get your ATF to the dentist.
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We're a country of extreme wealth inequality and that translates to the classroom. I guarantee that the wealthy kids in Palo Alto or Los Altos, taking a max load of AP courses and getting private tutors, don't lag anyone in the world. Mix in the kids from cities like Compton or Hawthone and you get a low ranking overall.
~ Victoria California Claflin aka Victoria Woodhull
~ American leader of the women's suffrage movement
~ Victoria Woodhull ran for President of the United States and Frederick Douglass for Vice President of the United States in the 1872 presidential election for the Equal Rights Party.
~ Born September 23, 1838 Homer, Ohio, US
~ Died June 9, 1927 Bredon, Worcestershire, UK
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The “rich” and corporations will pay for it with higher taxes, but as the “rich” and corporations move offshore taking their jobs with them and there’s just not enough money, every hard working person making money and paying taxes will be their new “rich” who will be required to pay more.
Totally agree 100% with what you said. There’s always going to be a small set of students at every high school that can compete with the best in the world but it seems those numbers are shrinking.
I look back at my old high school. The town I grew up always had lots of low skilled manufacturing jobs available. In the 70’s there was a flood of families that moved in from Tennessee and ex coal miners from West Virginia. There is a small liberal arts college in town and the top students year after year were kids of college professors. Even with the new arrivals - many of whose parents never finished high school - the school consistently ranked in the top 30% in the state.
But not any longer. The high achievers are still there. But the school is the bottom 5% in the state rankings based upon test scores. Something changed in 40 years
Genetics plays a part too. Low IQ parents are not going to magically produce high IQ kids. Sorry. Unfortunately we’re not all created equal.
Maybe, but who will hire them if they don't have the basic skills necessary to figure out how to get to a job on time, and ready to work ?
I give those Hispanic immigrants credit, they have an instilled work ethic that is sadly lacking in many native born youths.
The Mexicans who bust ass come from small towns. 70 - 100 years ago, when Black people came out of small towns in the South, they busted ass in the same way, did all the same stuff, made a plate or found a spot to sleep for the new people who had just arrived. Now a lot of Black and Latino people in big cities can't go five block from their place without getting shot, never mind move across the country to earn more money. There is something about being poor in the city (rather than in the country) that seems to make people go to shit.
That’s a great idea. That’s basically what I did with my last hire. We have a mechanical aptitude test for applicants. The desired score is 67% or higher. Not really a high bar. Very few are applying so I took a chance on this kid. He scored about 59% on the test - not terrible but wouldn’t have been considered 2-3 years ago. Great kid. High character. But can’t even use a screw driver or turn a wrench. But he’s willing to learn. That’s all we can hope for.
Some people (Icee) say companies need to pay more. This kid, with zero skills, is making $25.50 per hour, company paid vision and dental and low cost medical ($30 per week) from day one with $500 contribution to an HSA. 401k match. Tell me that’s not fair for an unskilled worker.
It's been a while but I remember a chart from school. If an item is in demand, the people that demand that item can do something to ensure their demands are fulfilled. I just can;t for the life of me remember what it is...what was that y-axis labeled dang it oh well we've tried everything nothing works.
And these folks who can't fill their openings? Well if they are so good, what happened to their previous crew?
SJG
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