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originally posted by: Irishhaf
Some areas of manufacturing actually cannot fill their jobs because they are looking for young people to train and are offering good pay and benefits but the gotta get a degree crowd keeps steering kids away from the jobs.
Stupid thing is many of those "manufacturing" jobs are actually tech jobs with incredible job security, since the coding for those automated machines are so different from normal tech jobs the training is all done in house.
originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: rickymouse
the only problem in the US is the mega wealthy people not paying their employees then thinking they are doing everyone a service by donating some cash to a non profit rather than just paying their employees
originally posted by: TXRabbit
2 - Ridiculous expectations in the US for employment (professional sector). Jobs stay unfilled for many months simply because the expectations are set so high, the number of qualified candidates is nil. My career field is IT (programming) and during times that I've been job hunting, everybody wants a 4 year degree. Everybody wants 2+ years of experience in at least 4 disciplines and technologies and nobody wants to pay the market-rate.
What happens then is the industries (again, I only know IT. Not sure if others follow the same practices) pressure the Gov to open up the number of worker-visas (H1-B) or relax any restrictions on off-shoring work. Cheaper rates are paid for tasks that US workers are available to handle and resourcing companies are happy. Most of this offshoring winds up in India, Russia and China.
originally posted by: TXRabbit
2 - Ridiculous expectations in the US for employment (professional sector). Jobs stay unfilled for many months simply because the expectations are set so high, the number of qualified candidates is nil. My career field is IT (programming) and during times that I've been job hunting, everybody wants a 4 year degree. Everybody wants 2+ years of experience in at least 4 disciplines and technologies and nobody wants to pay the market-rate.
originally posted by: stormcell
#2 is the same in the UK. Companies advertise for a software engineer with at least two years experience with each of a number of different techical skills (C++, C#, OpenCV, OpenGL, Python, Java, Windows). Then when you get to the interview, you find out they are really looking for a project manager, and you won't actually be getting to do any of the programming work. But they will still pay you the salary of a software engineer. And even if they do offer you the position you'll find yourself bumped and nudged between these different areas.
originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: Serdgiam
You ever want to build a company that takes advantage of garage manufacturers and their 3d printers, let me know. I've been kicking around some ideas on the concept. The biggest hurdle, shipping, is a cost that can decrease significantly with greater amounts of parcel.
originally posted by: carewemust
I heard that APPLE is frustrated because people are keeping their I-Phones longer, which is causing demand to decrease. I'm not an I-phone owner, so I have no idea what's behind that.
originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: Aazadan
Thank-you. I still find it fascinating that my wife pays $700+ dollars for her I-phone every 3 years or so, and none of them "blink" to let her know that a call was missed, or that there's a text or voicemail waiting. I've been Android forever and couldn't imagine not having that external notification.
originally posted by: tgidkp
how can someone like me NOT worry about this type of discussion? an above poster said that the situation is "bleak". and after reading all of this, combined with some of my own insights, i too think that we are heading for some rough times in our future.
i am looking for work currently... have been unemployed for quite a long time. i am not afraid of work. i just feel overwhelmed by these things and the overwhelm is itself causing a lot of problems for me.
thanks for the thread. it is always good to see real discussion on the boards these days and i value everyone's contributions here.
originally posted by: UKTruth
There is only one thing that you can rely on economists for - being incorrect. It's an utterly useless profession usually populated by people who have zero idea about life.
As far as manufacturing in the USA goes, here's my take (which could, of course, be completely wrong).
It takes skill and/or quality machine design and manufacture to make quality products. Consumers have, however , been weened onto cheap sh*t from China that lasts less than half the time. It's a race to the bottom in product quality terms.
If Western consumers woke up and rejected the false economy of cheap prices and regular replacement cycles to get the latest shiny (cheaply made) widget, they could once again learn to demand quality and keep their purchases for years on end. In the long run it would actually be cheaper. Countries like China can't compete with quality made goods. They rely on the "must have the newest thing now mentality" of Westerners.
There is really no value anymore - hence Western manufacturing companies have to compete against cheap sh*t and they simply can't do it.
My view is to not only take a nationalist view on products, but to take a local view also. I buy as much as I can from local, British, companies (which, unfortunately, is far less than I want to).
originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
I know many are against protectionist measures (in theory), but when you're competing with societies where 3 and sometimes 4 generations live in the same household, and can exist for centuries on less than a dollar a day, you have to take some protective measures.
A good start would be to increase tariffs on finished imported goods (with some minor exceptions) and sub-assembly's, and increase export tariffs on raw materials, especially metals.