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The idea that American workers are being left in the dust because they lack technological savvy does not stand up to scrutiny. Our focus should be on coordination and communication between workers and employers.
Technology enthusiasts and entrepreneurs are among the loudest voices declaiming this conventional wisdom (see "The Hunt for Qualified Workers").
Two recent developments have heightened debate over the idea of a "skills gap": an unemployment rate below 5 percent, and the growing fear that automation will render less-skilled workers permanently unemployable.
Proponents of the idea tell an intuitively appealing story: information technology has hit American firms like a whirlwind, intensifying demand for technical skills and leaving unprepared American workers in the dust. The mismatch between high employer requirements and low employee skills leads to bad outcomes such as high unemployment and slow economic growth.
The problem is, when we look closely at the data, this story doesn't match the facts. What's more, this view of the nation's economic challenges distracts us from more productive ways of thinking about skills and economic growth while promoting unproductive hand-wringing and a blinkered focus on only the supply side of the labor market—that is, the workers.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608707/the-myth-of-the-skills-gap/
What do you think, is there a shortage of skilled workers ??
(Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 25 2017, @04:02PM (3 children)
Sucks, don't it? If you and I had to be born evil white males, we should have been born a hundred years ago, when evil white males were worshipped around the world!
Hey, I hope things work out for you. But, warning: if the company "helps" you to buy your own truck, you're setting yourself up for a fall. Sign a 48 month lease, and they run you ragged for 44 months. Starting with month 45, you spend more time at home, than on the road. Dispatch tells you, "There's just no freight, sorry man!" Month 49, they repo your truck, and sell it, and you're screwed.
The only way to be certain that this scam works for you, is to have those last four payments in the bank, far in advance. You get down to those last four months, and they sideline you, you make the last four payments, and take your truck with you.
(Score: 2) by GlennC on Friday August 25 2017, @05:24PM (1 child)
Thanks for the advice. I had my concerns about that kind of arrangement, but it's always nice to get additional input.
Sorry folks...the world is bigger and more varied than you want it to be. Deal with it.
(Score: 3, Informative) by NewNic on Friday August 25 2017, @08:48PM
Read this story:
https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/news/rigged-forced-into-debt-worked-past-exhaustion-left-with-nothing/ [usatoday.com]
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 25 2017, @09:26PM
That happened to a buddy of mine too. Thankfully I literally hit the lottery and was able to loan him the money to pay them off. I also helped a bunch of workers by finding out where the auction was and buying a bunch of trucks for super cheap. Interesting how only the businesses the people worked for bought the trucks as they came up even though there were 10+ companies there, and for little more than the underlying debt....