Shortage of Skilled Trade Workers

[Armistead]

I hear so much news about unemployment. Why visiting my father in Charlotte NC, read in the paper that building was slowing from a simple lack of skilled trade workers. If fact, over 3000 skilled trade jobs needed to be filled there alone. The strange fact, studies stated there were 1000's of skilled trade workers sitting at home not applying for the jobs. getting unemployment, food stamps, etc. I was shocked to find this issue existed in many states, incuding Michigan.

Course many factors are involved. One complaint is wages have decreased year after year. If builders/manufacts. really wanted to fill these jobs, they would increase wages/benefits. In the last 3 years, CEO's and corporate managers wages have increased 40%, why the average worker wages have decreased 12-20%. A bigger issue, the youth of America simply don't want to do these jobs. Many of these jobs were done by illegals who are now scared to fill them as before.

Nothing wrong with a skilled trade. I worked with my hands for 12 years before I became a pencil pusher.

[August]

Nothing wrong with it at all. A man gets a lot of satisfaction from building things. But it is hard dirty work which doesn't pay well. It's also not regular enough and the housing bubble pretty much killed job opportunity for a couple of years which is time enough for a skills gap to develop.

All the flea markets around here in the past few years have tons of used tradesman tools. Sad to see really.

[Jimbuna]

Sadly replicated here in the UK and much of Europe I suspect.

All my engineering equipment is stored in my garage but I'm simply too old to do that kind of work now.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

All my engineering equipment is stored in my garage but I'm simply too old to do that kind of work now.

Flog it, buy some more diecast.

Sadly I think this is very much reflected around most of the western world. The ethics of working hard are disappearing, people think the world owes them a living for doing nothing.

[Ducimus]

Pull up a chair, I have a story to relate, and it's my father's story.

My Dad started working as a machinist in the 70's. As a kid growing up, i remember a few things distinctly. Him going to work with a United Steel Workers of America T shirt, and a lunch box. What exactly did my dad do? He worked in several departments within this company over the course of my life time, but the product itself was high speed machines, that sealed the lids of can's, with the product already in them.

Ever watch "Modern Marvels" on the history channel and they show some food packing place from soda, to canned corn with those bottles or cans moving through these machines at a high rate of speed, being packed up and off to a warehouse floor? That's what my Dad built. Those machines, and they made them from scratch.

My father's worked for this one company for at least all my 39 years on this planet. He started in "assembly", and worked his way to Foreman. This company had all the things that you associate with classic Americana. Company picnics, and retirement plans. Not 401K's. Once my dad crossed from being a Union Man to a company man, he carried with him the same work ethic he carried his entire life. The sad truth is that something has changed over the generations. The people who were in the United Steel workers while my dad was in the union, are not the same people today. Good people with strong work ethic nowadays, are hard to find.

But there's more to it then a generational degration of work ethic. But also of management ethic. Cause and effect? I don't think so. It's simple greed.

Almost 10 years ago. my father's company was bought out by some big conglomerate in Michigan i believe it is. Since that time, they have steadily dismantled my fathers work place. Parts they used to make in house, are now being outsourced. Machines they used to make, they no longer are. They have been replacing skilled craftsman, with cheap unskilled labor, and the end product is suffering for it. Companies that went with my dads company for years are now shifting their gaze elsewhere because the big corporate is clueless.

The short version of this sad story of layoffs, closed factories, livelyhoods lost, is there is nobody replacing craftsman like my father. There are no apprenticeship programs, and 40+ years of machining experience not being passed down. My father right now, is the last of a breed, and is extremly valuable to this company. So valuable they are spending 2000 dollars in travel expenses just to fly my dad to michigan every two weeks. Right now he's working two weeks on, and then flys home to calilfornia for 1 week. Then they pay to fly him out again. They are using him to try and train people to do individual tasks in a short time period. Trying to cram 40+ years worth of experience into a few weeks of training just isn't going to happen. These people are absolutely clueless. Fabricating a part that should only take 3 days, takes these people 3 weeks.

My dad is close to retirement, which is locked in and they can't take that away from him. Once he retires, a vast amount of knowledge, and experience, will go with him, and it won't be replaced. He is without exaggeration, the last of a breed.

I do not think my dad's story is an isolated incident, but one that has been happening all over, and one that will have dire effects for our country in the future.

[AVGWarhawk]

Between you, me and the lamp post, a skilled trade job for me was less stressful than my current pencil pushing job. I was a automobile technician for 12 years. Never once did a car yell at me then hang up.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

The ethics of working hard are disappearing, people think the world owes them a living for doing nothing.

There's another thing. The ethics of treating your employees fairly are disappearing too.
The fat cats haul in the money while the worker doesn't know how to pay his bills from his full time job. Temporary employment only that gives you zero security to plan your life...
It's not just the evil lazy workers. It's a problem from both sides.

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

There's another thing. The ethics of treating your employees fairly are disappearing too.
The fat cats haul in the money while the worker doesn't know how to pay his bills from his full time job. Temporary employment only that gives you zero security to plan your life...
It's not just the evil lazy workers. It's a problem from both sides.

A good friend of mine was a brick layer foreman in the 90's, made $21 per hour then, not bad in the south. Now, he says that same job pays about $16 per hour or less.

[Wolferz]

I've always found the brass tacks of the current business model to be...
Too many chiefs and not enough Indians

The chiefs falsely assume that THEY are the driving force in making the business successful and demand the lions share of the profits.
In reality...
The Indians are the ones that make the business profitable but, they get squeezed like a dish rag until they can't hold water anymore or they're making too much money. Then they get tossed like a paper towel and replaced with a noob at a starting wage, so the chiefs can get a bigger bonus.

Is there any wonder that experienced tradesmen would rather sit at home and suck off the government teat than go back to work at a starting wage?

If the chiefs had their druthers, employees would be constantly working at a starting wage.

Look at that wacky Wombat in Australia who thinks workers shouldn't be paid more than a buck a day.
She's not alone in that assessment. The chiefs fear workers who get paid what they're worth because they might strike out on their own and become competition.

Bottom line is, slavery was never abolished. It just converted to a new form.

In my entire working lifetime I've sat on enough of those tacks to provide a permanent skid plate on my arse.

[Platapus]

I would like to see Trade Schools receive the respect they deserve.

I fear that too many people assume that only poor students or the less capable attend Trade Schools.... as a last resort. After all, if they were capable they would go to college right?

I don't know what the solution is. But we need to find one and implement it! There is nothing "last resort" about a legitimate Trade School. Nor do Legitimate Trade Schools just accept everyone.

There are many industries where a degree is less useful than getting certifications. IT being one of them. The Frau is involved in IT hiring. A degree may get you an interview, but it is the certifications that get you hired.

A degree says that you know about something. A Trade School type certification means that you know how to do something. I ought to know, I am just finishing my Doctorate. Don't ask me to do anything.

So just to throw the contentious grenade: Are unions helping or hurting the recognition of Trade Schools as a valuable and necessary contribution to our society?

[HW3]

Business started changing when they took the human element out of the balance sheet, and only looked at the dollars and cents. There used to be an intangible element called good will factored in to the financial statements but, since a dollar value can not be placed on it, it went by the wayside. That is when employees went from the asset side, to the liability side of the ledger sheet. Years ago people used to love to go to work, because they felt like the company valued them, and respected them. How many people do you know now that feel that way about the company they work for?

[Ducimus]

This day and age, with the ever increasing rise of education, and the new Student loan scam/bubble creating entire generations of indentured servants, a trade school is a VERY viable alternative to a college degree in my personal opinion. If I had a child old enough to be wondering about this kind of thing, I would push the idea of being diligent with their algebra, and get into HVAC.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by Platapus

I would like to see Trade Schools receive the respect they deserve.

I fear that too many people assume that only poor students or the less capable attend Trade Schools.... as a last resort. After all, if they were capable they would go to college right?

I don't know what the solution is. But we need to find one and implement it! There is nothing "last resort" about a legitimate Trade School. Nor do Legitimate Trade Schools just accept everyone.

There are many industries where a degree is less useful than getting certifications. IT being one of them. The Frau is involved in IT hiring. A degree may get you an interview, but it is the certifications that get you hired.

A degree says that you know about something. A Trade School type certification means that you know how to do something. I ought to know, I am just finishing my Doctorate. Don't ask me to do anything.

So just to throw the contentious grenade: Are unions helping or hurting the recognition of Trade Schools as a valuable and necessary contribution to our society?

Very true. I covered all my bases. 4 years BA at the University of MD College Park and became a ASE Certified Technician in brakes, transmission, engine performance and front end. Trade school offered by Goodyear Tire and Rubber, Co. Personally, I think a good trade skill is useful to have.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

This day and age, with the ever increasing rise of education, and the new Student loan scam/bubble creating entire generations of indentured servants, a trade school is a VERY viable alternative to a college degree in my personal opinion. If I had a child old enough to be wondering about this kind of thing, I would push the idea of being diligent with their algebra, and get into HVAC.

As of late, specialty schools are cropping up. My daughter is interested in Vet Tech. There is a school in Pitt PA and York PA that specialize in that training. No really need to attend a 4 year college. However, she is going to the local community college starting this fall. Major in English. Work on the 2 year associates then make her decision on what to do next. Transfer and finish the 4 total years somewhere or attend a technical school in the field she is interested in.

[soopaman2]

I make 20$ plus an hour with no college education.


*rubs it in*


College or computers do not equal sucess.

Some of us sweat and exert ourselves for our money, which is where this country has failed.


The desk jockeys make way more than the sweat hogs in most cases..


Then again you have not destroyed the unions in Jersey yet, where a physical man could make a living.


For now.