SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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: 1) by khallow on Thursday December 28 2017, @07:06PM (1 child)
That's all fine, but if spending considerable effort and money to train people is such a good idea, then why are there so few employers that do it? I gather the current story is that MBAs simultaneous took over the entire business world and now have their tendrils everywhere sucking all nutritional value out of the entire US economy with worker education/training being an early casualty. But there are always exceptions and new companies created. The story is getting long in the tooth since MBAs have been around for 40-50 years now. When are we going to start seeing the difference in success between businesses that operate in the MBA way and those with the alleged superior methods of operation?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 28 2017, @07:44PM
I don't know why so many people do foolish, short-sighted things, but they do. It's similar to how many employers won't hire people without a degree, even though, in most cases, degrees get handed out like candy and having one is not very impressive. Many people (and there seemingly is plenty of overlap between these two groups) simultaneously maintain that our education system is abysmal and yet treat those who went through schooling as superior. As a result, many excellent, motivated candidates who can self-learn learn quickly are overlooked, and employers whine about shortages of skilled candidates. Well, that's just one reason for the supposed 'shortage': Credentialism.