U.S. manufacturing sees shortage of skilled factory workers. By Peter Whoriskey, Published: February 19, The Washington Post. HOLLAND, Mich. — This stretch of the Rust Belt might seem like an easy place to find factory workers. Unemployment hovers above 9 percent. Foreign competition has thrown many out of work. It is a platitude that this industrial hub, like the country itself, needs more manufacturing work. But as the 2012 presidential candidates roam the state offering ways to “bring the jobs back,” many manufacturers say that, in fact, the jobs are already here. What’s missing are the skilled workers needed to fill them. Learn more...
Surge in temp workers reflects fundamental change in American workplace. By Ylan Q. Mui, Published: February 17. The Washington Post. The nation’s unemployment rate is falling faster than expected, but what counts as a job has become increasingly murky. That is raising new questions about the sustainability of the drop in the unemployment rate as workers cycle through jobs more quickly. It also leaves them more vulnerable to cycles of boom and bust — temporary workers are usually the first hired and first fired — and forces them to shoulder the responsibility of paying for health care and retirement. “By definition, a good job was with a big company with big benefits where you could expect to work for your whole life,” said Carl Camden, chief executive of Kelly Services, one of the nation’s largest staffing firms. “The social benefits system relies on almost everybody working in a quote-unquote job. That’s not the case now.” Learn more...
Job retraining for the unemployed: A popular fix that might not work. By Amy Goldstein, Published: February 17 | Updated: Saturday, February 18, 2:16 PM, The Washington Post. For the rollout of its 2013 federal budget, the White House could have chosen a medical lab, an electric-car factory or a symbol of any other key item in its spending plan. As it turned out, President Obama jogged into the gym of Northern Virginia Community College to deliver his budget message this past week. “I’ve been here so many times,” he deadpanned, “I’m about three credits short of graduation.” The final budget proposal of Obama’s term would devote $8 billion to help community colleges collaborate with local businesses to try to equip 2 million Americans with, as the president put it, “skills they need to get a job right now.” And the bit of stagecraft on the Annandale campus attests to the administration’s love affair with the nation’s nearly 1,200 two-year colleges — as a steppingstone, in an era of unparalleled long-term unemployment, to improve prospects for U.S. workers and, in turn, the president’s electoral fortunes. Learn more...
