Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Skills Don't Pay the Bills




In this article it discusses how factories are in need of skilled workers to do the jobs that are there. Factory work is not like it used to be; before, one could get a good paying factory job right out of high school, now one needs a college education to work in the factories. The education required to work the machines that are in factories today include: metallurgy, physics, chemistry, pneumatics, electrical wiring, and computer coding. These are all skilled jobs that require college to get to, and yet the pay is only $10.00 an hour. The factories cannot afford to raise their wages in order to stay competitive globally, and potential employees go else where with there skills to receive higher wages for their work. 

The average factory worker at this time is 56 years old. This is a very serious problem; if the factories cannot bring in the workers they need then they may be forced out of business (causing even more jobs to be lost). It would be difficult to move the factories overseas due to the skill required to work the machines. If the factories in the United States are to survive they need to find a way to raise wages, yet be competitive in the global market. If this means finding ways to cut overhead costs, or perhaps making it easier to man the machines, then they should look into it.

These factories could be a way to help lower unemployment, with the jobs that they need. The question is how can we help both unemployment and the factories keep in the global market without leaving? Perhaps the answer lies within the past. If everyone else around us is still in the developing stage, then perhaps we need to find ways to lower the skill sets needed, but without lowering our standards, and technology (perhaps we need to make the technology even better). This way we can compete in the global market now, as well as be one of the best in the market later on when everyone else is at the stage we are at now. If the United States wants to help with unemployment then the avenue of the factory may be the way to look. There is a lot of work involved in a project like this, yet if it could be successful, the reward has the potential to be great.




2 comments:

  1. Certainly here there is almost noalternative to rectify the situation but by providing cheaper cost of education to work in a factory without going to college. In a manner of a small specialized schools that will teach them how to operate these machines like for example tapestry schools and art schools. The potential factory workers wouldn't have to worry about paying 4 year college education to work for a $10.00 wage.

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  2. It makes sense that America is a capital-abundant country, therefor should be focus on capital-intensive industries. The problem that educated workers didn't get well-paid is duing to the universally high-educated system. When supply exceed the demand, prices go down. However, it is also a motivation for the students to get higher education. If u are better than the average groups, undoubtedly u'll get a well-paid job. The more people get good education, the more labor move from the labor-intensive sector to capital-intensive sector, the better of the terms of trade of the U.S. So I think the education system is the point to save jobs and President Obama is working on it now.

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