Jobs and the Jobless Recovery

A number of interesting articles about the job situation in the U.S. have caught my eye recently.  There are still millions of people out of work (13.1 million counted plus another at least 8 million workers who are not receiving benefits or are ‘discouraged’), a situation that has an increasingly detrimental effect on our society.  Consider it – over 20 million people who are not contributing to the income tax revenue that the government needs to fund services and projects; over 20 million people who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food on their table and who are taxing the very services that are now underfunded and overwhelmed.  Personally (naturally) I feel the job situation should be making more headlines than it is!

The articles that caught my eye were varied, each providing different information and insights about the current situation.  The first was an article on msnbc.com stating that jobs are going unfilled because employers cannot find appropriately skilled workers.  With so many people looking for work it is hard to believe that a skilled worker can’t be found for every job opening.  Nevertheless, over 50 percent of employers surveyed said that they cannot find the right worker.   This begs the question – do employers have reasonable expectations?  According to experts quoted in the article the answer is a qualified no.  Employers complain about the lack of skilled workers but at the same time they have decreased their recruitment efforts, lowered wages, done away with benefits (such as paying moving expenses) which might encourage workers to apply for a position, and are more reluctant to spend the time or money training someone for a highly specialized job.

In my job hunt I notice many of the position ads list very exacting requirements or exclude certain candidates.  Of particular interest to me, given that I plan to take courses in medical assisting in order to switch into a field that is still growing, is that most of the local job advertisements in this field are now stating that they will not accept applications from job seekers who do not have two to three years of experience.  One specifically declared “New graduates will not be considered.” This presents a quandary for someone looking to retool for a new career in middle age.  Is it worth spending sometimes substantial sums of money and potentially several years training for a new career if the field in which one is interested will not hire new grads?  Should we gamble on the possibility that hiring requirements will relax in the time we take to learn our new skills?

The second article in the Wall Street Journal contrasted the growth in company expenditures in machines (orders for new robots are up 41%) versus hiring (1.4% growth in private sector jobs).   Current tax incentives are making capital purchases more economical than in the past and companies that are not just stuffing their profits away in bank accounts are taking advantage of the bargains.  These tax incentives were created to help give the economic recovery a boost but aren’t necessarily having the intended effect.  Sure lots of companies are buying or upgrading equipment but many of those items are purchased from overseas manufacturers (nice for China’s economy) and in the end may result in more layoffs rather than additional hiring.  For instance Sunny Delight’s upgrade of their Littleton Massachusetts plant, currently in the works, will result in the shedding of around 40 jobs as more processes are mechanized.

The third article provided a glimmer of hope.  It discussed the beginnings of a trend of bringing jobs back from China.  It’s not patriotism or concern for the well-being of America that’s bringing jobs back from China, but the bottom line.  As China’s economy expands, more factories are built, and employers compete for workers, bringing up wages and the cost of the product, and at the same time shipping costs rise as concerns over Iran’s control over the strait of Hormuz and continued unrest in the Middle East drives up the price of fuel, and suddenly it’s not that much cheaper to manufacture your product overseas.  The authors of a study titled “Made in America, Again: Why Manufacturing Will Return to the U.S.” believe that by 2015 it will only be 10% cheaper to manufacture goods in China (which does makes me wonder whether wages in the U.S. will continue to drop).  At any rate bringing manufacturing jobs back to America will benefit all of us as more people return to work, pay taxes, spend their earnings, and keep their roof over their heads and their children fed.  Perhaps between factory upgrades and returning jobs we’ll be even more productive than ever!

PS – There was a follow up piece on the Apple jobs story in the NY Times that is worth reading.  Reader Tiffany asked how many of us would be willing to get out of bed at 3 AM and go into our factory job to make changes to an Apple product.  After reading this latest article on the working conditions in Apple’s factory in China I have to say that not only are they getting cheaper labor by moving jobs there, they are taking advantage of the workers and should be ashamed of themselves.  The working conditions would not be allowed here.