Why Factories Are Having Trouble Filling Nearly 400,000 Open Jobs
Why Factories Are Having Trouble Filling Nearly 400,000 Open Jobs
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/46747422
Archive article: https://archive.ph/YX7on
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Without reading I can give a most likely answer: money. If the job is exhausting and dangerous but pays a tenth of what middle management makes, which is a tenth of what the CEO makes, then I think we might have the reason.
The article doesn't actually cite compensation as an issue. The actual issue is lack of skilled talent, which is due to a couple of things including
- These jobs require relevant skills; can't just hire someone off the street as you can in the service industry.
- The US spent ages telling people that they were idiots if they didn't go to college, which pushed people away from trade skills
- The Trump administration made aggressive cuts to training programs for blue-collar workers
These jobs require training. Which one can only get if they, get a job there.
But that costs money the CEO could be making. Better to just pretend to be unable to find workers than invest the money to train the ones they can find
This is a problem across industries. The programming joke of a job requiring ten years experience in a five year old language is funny because it’s true.
that’s just their point tho. it’s not true. it’s a fiction fabricated by bourgeois people so they can pretend it’s common people not wanting to work rather than them not being willing to invest in the “poors.” they need to not upset the working class while they rape us because the moment we become aware is the moment we throw them off top of us.
you live in a world where these people’s feelings are more important than your livelihood, at least in the company ledger. software dev is a great example of this. the industry isn’t some wild animal who randomly thrashes about. software and IT falling apart are active processes spurred by choices people who hold keys to the kingdom(s) are making, knowingly. every time some homeless developer gets thrown in jail because it’s literally criminalized to be unhoused here - that’s the system working as intended.
No, it is true. Companies got sued because they brought in H1-B visas because no domestic worker could meet the impossible job requirement. So they get a slave who has to keep their job or be deported.
Jobs that are entry level and require years of experience are common.
And, yes, the assholes in charge are doing this.
There are vocational schools for this but there is very little public knowledge about them.
On the job training. Yes, it takes time and money but it is the obvious solution.
Any kind of training even in office jobs has been non-existent for my whole career. Whenever I've started a new job I'm always just thrown in the deep end by a manager that doesn't know how to do the job they are managing
That's not why we made business school.
On the job training. Yes, it takes time and money but it is the obvious solution.
A challenge facing many white collar jobs is that the entry level jobs are being automated away. There is no job for them to train on. The floor starts at Intermediate skill level and advances quickly to senior. The grunt work that needed to get done used to be handed to juniors. It wasn't very difficult, and it was low risk if they made mistakes. It was perfect entry work that was both necessary in that it served a productive purpose, but also allowed someone to get in the door and start working in a particular field. Technology and automation are now doing that same grunt work, so the entry level jobs are drying up and not being replaced. Its going to be a massive problem in a decade or two if the Intermediate and Senior positions are still needed and those that are in those jobs now retire or die off. This assume that the Intermediate and Senior positions don't also get automated away.
I'm not closely involved in trade jobs, but I wonder if a version of this is happening there too. One example I can think of is jobs like twisting rebar tie wire by hand for concrete work isn't technically difficult, but it is time consuming and uncomfortable.
However, now there are now robots that can do this work so much faster, and they don't eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, or get injured.
Is this happening in other entry level trade jobs? Will there be nowhere to train on the job?
It doesn't matter what has been defined as entry level - they can train for any job they need if they are willing to pay and take the time.
But I see what you are saying. It's different and they will have to adapt.
But I see what you are saying. It’s different and they will have to adapt.
The organization adapting may mean they simply exit that line of business if the costs/risks of training for the required staff it too high.
There's not enough skilled talent because the jobs are not paying enough when considering the physical risk and pain involved compared to what the execs make. I grew up surrounded by factory workers who made an OK salary in Indiana, enough to have a small house and 2 cars, but who always seemed to be on the verge of a strike. Constantly fighting with management to get basic benefits and decent pay, then having their bodies wrecked after years of a hard job. It was a thankless, hard job that was only made palatable by the wages and benefits unions had to constantly fight for. It's no wonder young people look at that life and decide it isn't worth all the specialized training to spend your life being dehumanized by the corporations who are making so much more money than you. At least in the skilled trades like construction and electrical you can go it alone and get most of the money for yourself. Not much of an option for that for factory workers.
And the compensation doesn't cover the costs of getting the skills yourself. American business got what it paid for - nothing.
The Trump administration made aggressive cuts to training programs for blue-collar workers
He didn't do it for the right reason, but it also should be the wealthy capitalists who pay for training, as well as excellent compensation for the job. Any other way is subsidizing wealthy welfare queens. Nope on that and let's use precise language that makes it clear who subsidizes who. The wealthy are the greedy, lazy takers, not our regular joes and janes.
That's a real posting from a large mfg.
Work 12 hour days AND every other weekend for poverty wages? Wow sign me up!
I live in a rural area outside of a small town in the southern USA. The local electrician, basically the guy almost everybody calls if they need basic residential electrical work, earns almost twice the high end of what that job listing is paying. Granted, he's basically on call 7 days a week and I'm sure his job isn't always unicorn farts and leprechaun rainbows, but he's his own boss and works his own hours.
Just having a job where you can say No to unreasonable demands makes life a lot easier. That's probably the best benefit of being self-employed - nobody forcing you to do stuff you hate.
Yeah, let's parse that out in real terms:
Need to have completed trade school or 2 years of apprenticeship, neither of which they are willing to pay for.
12 hour days, including many weekends.
SAP experience for an electrician?
Extreme physical danger from being an electrician, especially in a commercial environment that is more likely to have high voltage work.
Pay tops out at $67k...
Let's repeat: pay tops out at $67k for an experienced person working a dangerous job with long hours and weekends. I'm shocked they are having trouble finding people!!
Was gonna say, I went to college to get a good job that I hate.
If a manufacturer wants to pay me the same to sit on an assembly line I would give it real consideration.As always the "nobody wants to work" crowd conveniently neglect to tell us the wages
You can make good money in skilled trades which would require some training. Could be weeks, months of training.
My friend just became a locksmith. It has opened a lot of doors for him.
my brother is a plumber. he's rolling in it now.
Consider being an electrician: you’d be shocked
You pay a lot for that training, and typically the trades guys at a factory only make about 10-20% more than the line workers. The only money to be made in trades is owning your own firm
You can make good money in skilled trades if you are in a union. Also the union trains you.
CEOs make several hundred times the average worker wage, including middle management.