tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7294165939647321702.post7687168734080957398..comments2024-03-28T13:45:43.362-04:00Comments on <center><a href="http://www.barelkarsan.com">Barel Karsan - Value Investing</a></center>: It's Not A Job Shortage, It's A Worker Shortage!Saj Karsanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04493152766022812984noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7294165939647321702.post-45433899397479237322010-07-27T08:25:15.127-04:002010-07-27T08:25:15.127-04:00The problem is a good deal more complicated than y...The problem is a good deal more complicated than you make it seem. I would argue that there are far too many people with useless college degrees: the openings available are in areas that Americans are not studying in college, while there are a lot of college grads in other areas who are unemployed. <br /><br />I also question the "average" number of $48,000 for these workers. An average is meaningless when you could be averaging the salaries of people with degrees in nuclear engineering (and a masters' degree tacked on) with those who just majored in elementary ed and will start out on a first-year teacher's salary. That is to say nothing of the ridiculous creep of requiring a college degree to answer the phone at a call center.<br /><br />Yes, there is a shortage of workers with the qualifications that the few remaining jobs in this country require. But surely you recognize that, the further up the education chain one goes, the more one has invested and the LESS flexible one's education is with regard to areas in which one can work. There is a trade off.<br /><br />A successful, growing economy has living-wage jobs for many different people with many different levels of education and many different skill sets. We don't have that, and the important question is why. If I were looking to start out now, I quite possibly would look at skilled trades instead of the areas I went into: less debt, more stability and ability to improve my lot in life as a plumber than as a college graduate.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com