Posted in Economics & Globalization, Politics & Public Policy, Technology & Science, tagged adjustment, ahead, alternative energy, alternatives, Amazon, American Dream, Baby Boomers, bailouts, banks, big box, Big Coal, Bowling Alone, budget, buy local, buying, buying decisions, cap and trade, careers, cars, Cash for Clunkers, chain stores, challengers, change, climate, commodity, communitarianism, communities, community, community centers, community purse, companies, compete, computers, concentration, consequences, constrain, consumer confidence, consumers, cookie cutter, crude, Dark Age, debt, debtor, demand, demographics, desertification, destinations, developments, digital, discontinued, discounters, diversity, domain, double dip recession, downsizing, e-commerce, e-tailers, ecommerce, economists, education, efficiency, Ellen Ruppel Shell, energy, entitlements, evolution, Federal, financial, forecast, fossil fuels, free shipping, frugal, fund, future, gains, gasoline, globalization, GNP, governments, Green, Greening, growth, hardware, here to stay, heritage, hikes, hindsight, horizon, income, increases, independence, inflation, infrastructure, innovation, internet shopping, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Goodell, jobless recovery, jobs, landscape, lifestyle, lingering, local, local color, long term, loss, losses, market forces, marketplace, Marshalls, money, moneysaver, mouse, myth, necessity, new normal, oases, oil, oil refineries, outlook, overstock, Perfect Storm, petro, pitfalls, population, postal service, prediction, price wars, prices, production, projection, public safety, purchases, question, rates, reality, red tag, refining, regulation, retail, retailers, revolution, risks, Robert B. Putnam, Ross, sales, scale back, sell, shift, shipping, shop, shop locally, shoppers, shopping, signs of life, Social Security, society, spend, stagnation, standard of living, state, suburbia, SUVs, TARP, tax base, tax revenues, tax-free, taxation, thrift, time, TJ Maxx, toll, too little too late, towns, trade, transport, travel, trends, unintended, United States, urban, vacuum, wages, web, web bargains, websites, welfare, workforce on March 22, 2010|
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For years “energy independence” has been the catch-all solution promoted by politicians, talk radio hosts, newspaper columnists and others who point out that the U.S. is short on oil refining capacity. Nonetheless, petroleum production facilities are not only in the process of downsizing in response to a weak economy, but permanently so the Los Angeles Times reports in “Oil companies look at permanent refinery cutbacks” [March 11, 2010].
The oil industry, which as recently as 2007 broke so many profit records that allegations of collusion and price-gouging surfaced, is singing a different tune: Limiting supply to increase sagging profit margins is the solution, analysts say, for losses induced by everything from fuel efficient cars to retiring baby boomers who no longer commute to and from work.
And to think: Just a few years ago SUVs, with their paltry ~13 mpg, were the rage from Coast to Coast. Could it be that Cash for Clunkers, unintentionally so, was a little too effective — or are oil industry insiders selling Americans up the river when they can least afford it? Whatever the case may be, nothing says Green like fuel-efficient automobiles and the beginnings of an alternative energy infrastructure. Even so, the picture the LAT paints is far from complete. The Perfect Storm of tightening supply, increasing commodity prices, rising taxes and further job losses looms on the horizon.
Hang on to your hat! The price of life is going up.
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Posted in Economics & Globalization, Media & Social Media, tagged academic costs, advice, agency, ailing economy, American, Americans, analysis, Ann Pace, back to school, Belle Wheelan, campuses, career, career change, cashier, cashiers, child, college, commission, competitiveness, continuing education, cost of going to school, create jobs, credential, critical, curriculum, Curt Eysink, customer service agents, degree, diminish, director, editorial, education, educational loans, electrician, employ, employment insecurity, engineering, fields, fluke, forecasts, foreign, foreigners, Forgotten MiddleSkill Jobs, future, genius to succeed, globalization, governor, grad students, grades, Great Recession, growth projections, growth sector, H-1B, H1B, hands-on, higher education system, hire, home health aids, hope for, income, industry, inshore, insource, internationalize, invest, IQ, Jan Moller, Jindal, Joe the Plumber, labor, labor department, lobby attendants, loss, Louisiana, Louisiana Workforce Commission, low wage, machinist, math, mechanic, middle class, middle skill jobs, national outlook, New York Times, nobel winners, not enough, occupation, offshore, options, outsource, outweigh benefits, panacea, Ph.D, plumber, politically correct, prospects, public, reality check, reforming, report, representatives, requiring, right decision, rude awakening, schools, science, secretary, security, seeing red, seekers, service, service sector, should I return to school, silver lining, skilled, skilled labor, Skills2Compete, skillset, social contract, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, stability, standard of living, states, statistics, STEM, student lending, student loan bubble, students, study, survey, Susan Hockfield, technical, Technology & Science, the bell curve, ticket-takers, Tom Friedman, too few, too many, too many four year graduates, trade, trends, truth about, U.S., undercut, unemployable, unemployed, United States, university, unpopular view, untouchables, visas, vocational, wages, where are the jobs, workers, workforce, Workforce Alliance, worthwhile on November 9, 2009|
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Curt Eysink is an unpopular man.
Less than three months after assuming his post as executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission, he told a panel charged with overhauling the state’s higher education system: “We’re producing a workforce that we cannot employ in Louisiana.”
The problem? Too many four-year college grads and not enough low-skill and vocational trade workers.
Where is the job growth?
The service industry.
“[O]ccupational forecasts that show the state will produce 10,312 more four-year graduates than there are jobs to fill between 2008 and 2016, while at the same time there are 3,892 more jobs available requiring associates’ or technical degrees than there are people to fill them, ” reports Jan Moller of the Times Picayune.
Fairly or not, such news equates in Americans’ minds with sub par wages. And low-wage prospects make Americans see red.
“If I saw the strongest growth area was ushers, lobby attendants and ticket-takers, I’d leave Louisiana too,” said Belle Wheelan, president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
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Posted in Economics & Globalization, Politics & Public Policy, Technology & Science, tagged academia, academic inflation, ahead, America, American Dream, analysis, analytical, appliances, applicants, bachelor of arts, bankruptcy, banks, benchmark, Big Business, blame, brain drain, branding, business, capitalism, career, Century, CEO, child, China, collectible, college, columnist, compete, competitive, complaints, conglomerates, consequences, consumerism, consumers, corporate, creative, Daniel Pink, debate, debt, decline, degree, disadvantage, disparity, disposable, doctoral, doctors, Dollar, down waging, downwardly mobile, economic, economic insecurity, Economics & Globalization, economists, education, educators, elite, ethics, factory, family, fast buck, feudalism, finances, financial, First World, forecast, foreclosure, free market, free trade, future, game theory, global, globalism, globalization, Google, grad school, Great Recession, Green, hegemony, hidden costs, high end, higher ed, higher learning, hiring, house of cards, human rights, illusion, imbalance, immigration, implications, India, inferior, inhumane, innovator, insource, international, interview, irreplaceable, jobless recovery, jobs, jobs creation, Keynesian, labor, laborers, ladder, laissez faire, Lawrence Katz, lawyers, leaders, level playing field, lies, life span, living wage, longevity, loss, low end, lowest common denominator, Main Street, make work, market, marketing, marriage, masters, MBAs, Microsoft, middle class, MIT, motivated, myths, NAFTA, neocapitalism, new normal, New York Times, noncompetitive, NYT, offshoring, Old South, opportunism, outsource, panacea, perfect market, Ph.D, planned obsolescence, policy, pool, poor workmanship, poverty, prediction, pride, problem solving, product, progress, projections, protections, purchase, quality, quality control, race to the bottom, ranking, rational, reality, recruit, Reform, repairs, resume, retailer, retrain, revenues, rise, risk, saturated, scam, schools, security, silent depression, skills, slave, slippery slope, spending, standard of living, STEM, stimulus, student loans, substitute, succeed, success, superpower, survive, Susan Hockfield, sweat shop, sweatshops, talent, taxation, teachers, Technology & Science, Third World, Thomas Friedman, thrive, tipping point, Todd Martin, trade, traders, training, transnational, trend, unemployment, unethical, university, untouchables, US, wages, Wall Street, warranty, waste, Whole New Mind, workers, working class, workplace, world, zero sum on October 25, 2009|
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If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
— Henry David Thoreau
In “The New Untouchables “, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman argues that in this downwardly mobile economy there is no room for average. Extraordinary is what it takes to survive and thrive in the modern workplace.
I get that.
Yet for all my appreciation for education — I hold two degrees so I do, in fact, lean in favor of Friedman’s premise that education is key to American competitiveness — his education-as-a-panacea argument oversteps its reach.
Most strikingly, Friedman’s description of a successful “untouchable” American worker isn’t a portrait of educational endowment at all. Friedman’s favorite descriptors, instead, refer to personality attributes: entrepreneur (risk taker), creative (visionary), analytical (critical thinker), and persuasive (charismatic). The obvious problem with Friedman’s pin-the-tail-on-the-wrong-donkey premise is that temperament is inborn — teachers, let alone parents, cannot instill personality characteristics that are not there to begin with.
Friedman’s eagerness to finger the usual suspects — schools — also ignores six reasons why Americans are at a competitive disadvantage in the global era. Here we examine those realities, and the future these changing times have in store.
First, there are more of us occupying this country — and this planet at large — than ever before. At some point, the mathematics of population growth have to matter. The sheer number of people in today’s workforce suggests more and more people are competing for the same jobs even as we adopt more and more technology to displace human hands. That’s not a sign of a lack of education; it’s a sign that business owners comprehend that productivity gadgets and gizmos don’t require breaks, a salary or workers’ compensation.
It comes down to the numbers.
Second, I would argue the inverse in response to Friedman’s suggestion that there just isn’t enough talent to be had here in the States. Over the past 50-some years there are more colleges turning out more graduates on an annual basis than employers of the past had access to. Many foreign nationals, in fact, come to the US for higher education opportunities. On the flip side, there are only so many engineers, M.B.A.s, lawyers, scientists and the like universities can churn out before higher-end fields become saturated in much the same way low-end jobs are chalk full of contenders.
It’s no longer merely a question of whether there are clear winners and losers on the academic front.
Job scarcity is a threat, in part, because of the decades-long trend of mergers, acquisitions and a globalized labor pool. Consider: There are generally fewer than a dozen heavyweights in a given industry — everything from mainstream media to appliance manufacturing. This trend does not bode well for domestic job expansion. And if jobs aren’t available to begin with, it is tough to gain a competitive advantage even with above-average potential. So what we are seeing, in this author’s opinion, is an over-supply of talent.
But that doesn’t mean the proponents of Friedman’s dire self-fulfilling prophecy won’t get their wish.
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