First they outsource millions of manufacturing and I.T. jobs, now they import workers for the remaining jobs (unemployment, wages)

[KRAMERCAT]

Are there any American companies that actually INVEST in their employees, as in 'give job training', or are they just so used to going overseas to find workers that CLAIM to have those skills?

"Business for factories has surged recently, creating a huge demand for machinists, tool and die makers, computer-controlled machine programmers and operators.

"These jobs are the backbone of manufacturing," said Gardner Carrick, senior director with the Manufacturing Institute. "These are good quality middle-class jobs that Americans should be training for."

American manufacturers importing workers - Mar. 5, 2012

[tluv00]

Originally Posted by KRAMERCAT

Are there any American companies that actually INVEST in their employees, as in 'give job training', or are they just so used to going overseas to find workers that CLAIM to have those skills?

"Business for factories has surged recently, creating a huge demand for machinists, tool and die makers, computer-controlled machine programmers and operators.

"These jobs are the backbone of manufacturing," said Gardner Carrick, senior director with the Manufacturing Institute. "These are good quality middle-class jobs that Americans should be training for."

American manufacturers importing workers - Mar. 5, 2012

Not all companies do on the job training for these types of positions. Most likely they would have to go to a Tech or Vocational School. Don't say anything to Rick Santorum though. You know....since this is for snobs.

In all seriousness though this is what Obama was talking about when he asked the American people to "pledge" to at least try one year of College, Vocational, Tech or Community College. But I guess that makes him a snob.

[Nite Ryder]

Originally Posted by KRAMERCAT

Are there any American companies that actually INVEST in their employees, as in 'give job training', or are they just so used to going overseas to find workers that CLAIM to have those skills?

"Business for factories has surged recently, creating a huge demand for machinists, tool and die makers, computer-controlled machine programmers and operators.

"These jobs are the backbone of manufacturing," said Gardner Carrick, senior director with the Manufacturing Institute. "These are good quality middle-class jobs that Americans should be training for."

American manufacturers importing workers - Mar. 5, 2012

Do you seriously think it should be the employers who provide job training? Or should it be up to the individual who needs to make a living to be trained for a job? Why would an employer care about the life you intend to live, why would they even want to think about it? If you don't care enough about yourself to prepare for a job, why would any employer want you? Employers don't go off shore looking for workers because of those workers job skills, they go off shore because they don't want to pay wages that might be forced on them by a union, or costly regulations forced on them by our government.

When employers have to spend money to operate their business, the cost of their product has to be raised to pay for these costs. Educating people would cost employers too much to be profitable. If a business can't make a profit, they can't stay in business. When they close their business people are put out of work. I think what you see going on today in the United States, with unemployment reaching new heights is part of Obama's "Hope & Change" program. The economy has gotten so bad we all hope it will change...

Something else that is worth remembering: When Obama says he has put all these millions of people to work, he is talking about jobs provided by the government. The government does not produce anything, so these jobs in the long run are nothing more than a cost to the taxpayers.

[Ceece]

Most jobs have to do some training. Even when you have a skill you need to know exactly how to use it in the environment they hire you to work in.
I was lucky with my last full time job many moons ago. They needed people with training and skills that were not terribly popular at the time and did some testing on any interested employee. Then they chose us based on our "knack" for certain things and gave us 3 months training in COBOL. That's how I became a programmer.

[eskercurve]

Any politician who honestly believes only a high school diploma gives any edge to a worker is seriously deluded or farming for the dumb vote.

Companies can so easily pull up and put a factory in China, and have 10,000 applicants in the first week. They get paid $3/hr and the factory is highly automated (unless you're Foxconn, but that's another story).

The CEO of my company went to China once and toured a Chinese car assembly plant. He spoke at the company's senior leadership seminar this past week and said:

"Imagine a green-field job market with all the right skills and thousands of applicants, and now imagine a brand new factory that has automated almost every hand-touch assembly task. And finally imagine this minimal-touch plant has worked paid at $3/hr.

American workers need to start going to vocational school and trade school to obtain the necessary skills to maintain machines and work with highly automated assembly and manufacturing processes. We can't compete against the Chinese on price. So we must be as efficient and more innovative.
"

The only way to foster innovation and the skills necessary in our highly dynamic and FIERCELY competitive manufacturing world is to get an education beyond high school. Requiring your assembly instructions to be in picture books because people can't read 4th grade literature won't cut it anymore (as was the case MANY MANY TIMES in good economic times when foreign automakers came here looking to set up shop and instead settled for Canada or some other place).

The world has changed. And will continue to do so. Adapt or die.

[GregW]

The way to get people to learn and develop skills is to make it worth THEIR while. One way to make it worthwhile for a company to teach workers is to protect the company and the workers behind a tariff wall. China has a tariff of 25% on imports from the US. We have none. Is that smart? Not very.

We need countervailing tariffs set to eliminate any difference in costs created by difference in wages, benefits, workers’ safety, subsidies, environmental cleanup. Unless we desire to reduce American workers to Chinese standards these tariffs are necessary.

FWIW – I set up and operated machine tools since I was 12 years old. I became very good at it. When I got back from ‘Nam, I was offered $1.65/hr to work at that trade. That was insulting. I later found a similar job paying twice that. It still would not support me beyond a very basic single guy in an apartment level. There was also the annoying way skilled machinists were treated by the “engineers” and other white collar types.

I was fortunate in having the opportunity to go to college. The jobs always paid better then machinist and the coming retirement will be appreciated. I would not recommend taking the time to learn a really skilled trade if becoming a HS/TSA thug was an alternative.

[steven_h]

Originally Posted by Ceece

Most jobs have to do some training. Even when you have a skill you need to know exactly how to use it in the environment they hire you to work in.
I was lucky with my last full time job many moons ago. They needed people with training and skills that were not terribly popular at the time and did some testing on any interested employee. Then they chose us based on our "knack" for certain things and gave us 3 months training in COBOL. That's how I became a programmer.

There's a big difference between acclimatizing someone and actually training them. It's one thing to teach a person to do it the company way, and quite another to teach them the craft.

The biggest problem companies have, who are hiring, is the shortage of qualified workers to fill positions. People should be blaming the education system and colleges pushing students into saturated degree programs (BA,Legal,Marketing). Only 27% of Business Administrators are placed after graduating, yet there is a shortage of 30,000 technicians in the US. It's obvious that a greedy educational system oversold sectors because they needed to fill quotas, grab public money and build stadiums.

[GregW]

How many of you have ever worked in an actual factory making a real physical product? You should try it. It is not fun.

[tluv00]

Originally Posted by eskercurve

Any politician who honestly believes only a high school diploma gives any edge to a worker is seriously deluded or farming for the dumb vote.

Companies can so easily pull up and put a factory in China, and have 10,000 applicants in the first week. They get paid $3/hr and the factory is highly automated (unless you're Foxconn, but that's another story).

The CEO of my company went to China once and toured a Chinese car assembly plant. He spoke at the company's senior leadership seminar this past week and said:

"Imagine a green-field job market with all the right skills and thousands of applicants, and now imagine a brand new factory that has automated almost every hand-touch assembly task. And finally imagine this minimal-touch plant has worked paid at $3/hr.

American workers need to start going to vocational school and trade school to obtain the necessary skills to maintain machines and work with highly automated assembly and manufacturing processes. We can't compete against the Chinese on price. So we must be as efficient and more innovative.
"

The only way to foster innovation and the skills necessary in our highly dynamic and FIERCELY competitive manufacturing world is to get an education beyond high school. Requiring your assembly instructions to be in picture books because people can't read 4th grade literature won't cut it anymore (as was the case MANY MANY TIMES in good economic times when foreign automakers came here looking to set up shop and instead settled for Canada or some other place).

The world has changed. And will continue to do so. Adapt or die.

SNOB!

[plwhit]

American companies are in business to make money, PERIOD. Not to train workers or provide day care centers or provide health care benefits nor retirement benefits.

Why bother to train American workers when it's hundreds of times cheaper to manufacture items overseas and never be worried about the next union strike?