Factory Shift: Manufacturers Struggle to Fill Highly Paid Jobs – Los Angeles Times
From personal experience, working for several companies, I can only agree that finding a highly qualified person is difficult for manufacturing positions. Particularly for modern, clean, highly automated manufacturing lines, there just are not the people qualified for the job. I’ve been more likely to hire someone (or been favorable in having them hired), if they even show the potential of being able to grow into the role. The downside is, the lack of actual training and experience will show down the road, from only having an education about the process in the factory. Having several teachers (of varying forms) is a great benefit.
While the article doesn’t really get into it, I think it continues the idea that manufacturing jobs are what provide the heart of an economy. Service sector(McDonalds server to lawyer to bus driver to doctor) jobs don’t actually add much to the economy, and certainly don’t encourage foreign countries to buy their products.
With manufacturing jobs that pay much higher than other countries, we have to make sure we have a higher quality, faster delivery, and far more innovative products than other countries. I don’t think it’s a lost cause.
