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Robot growing pains: Two U.S. factories show tensions of going digital
President Donald Trump has put bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States at the center of his economic and trade agenda. But when jobs actually come - as they have here in southern Indiana - many factory workers are not prepared for them, and employers are having trouble hiring people with the needed skills.
U.S. manufacturing job openings stand near a 15 year high and factories are hiring workers at the fastest clip since 2014, with many employers saying the hardest-to-fill jobs are those that involve technical skills that command top pay.
In 2000, over half of U.S. manufacturing workers had only high school degrees or less, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Today, 57 percent of manufacturing workers have technical school training, some college or full college degrees, and nearly a third of workers have bachelors or advanced degrees, up from 22 percent in 2000.
Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the digitalization sweeping the economy is forcing employers to hunt for a different mix of workers - and pay more in some cases for workers with technical skills. A new study by Muro found those with the highest digital skills saw average wage growth of 2 percent a year since 2010, while wages for those with medium skills grew by 1.4 percent and those at the bottom by 1.6 percent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 28 2017, @08:05AM (3 children)
Who could have ever guessed that rampant credentialism would lead to a 'shortage' of skilled workers? You can't flip that burger without a high school degree, after all. High school degrees are known to be very prestigious.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 28 2017, @08:29AM (2 children)
You don't need a degree to be a coder. GitHub is free. Create your account today and just start coding. If you're lucky, you'll make your big break and be a rockstar and get a million dollar salary at a top tech company. If you're unlucky, you'll write code that nobody will ever see or use. Let's be honest. You won't get your big break. You'll be the unwashed unkempt eyesore who carries a cracked laptop in a garbage bag and wanders from one coffee shop to another to use the free wifi. You'll beg for free food and you'll eat expired coupons. You'll wear the same dirty clothes for weeks. When you wait at a bus stop, the bus won't even stop for you. You'll walk miles through the snow while thinking about writing code. You will freeze and starve and die in poverty. And your code will always compile.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday December 28 2017, @09:49AM (1 child)
And your code will always compost?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 28 2017, @01:48PM
Much in the same way your posts do.