"The secret behind this skills gap is that it’s not a skills gap at all. I spoke to several other factory managers who also confessed that they had a hard time recruiting in-demand workers for $10-an-hour jobs. “It’s hard not to break out laughing,” says Mark Price, a labor economist at the Keystone Research Center, referring to manufacturers complaining about the shortage of skilled workers. “If there’s a skill shortage, there has to be rises in wages,” he says. “It’s basic economics.” After all, according to supply and demand, a shortage of workers with valuable skills should push wages up. Yet according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of skilled jobs has fallen and so have their wages."<p>This is true in other fields as well. Take the "shortage" of Phd's. I believe the average fresh Phd is probably doing post doc work at a college for little pay.
"I spoke to several other factory managers who also confessed that they had a hard time recruiting in-demand workers for $10-an-hour jobs."<p>No shit...<p>not news.
" Running these machines requires a basic understanding of metallurgy, physics, chemistry, pneumatics, electrical wiring and computer code"<p>For $10/hour? Sign me up...
Interesting points; I would be curious to take the economic argument a step further and understand the effects of traditionally unionized labor on the manufacturing industry. The economics of supply and demand driven wage efficiency falter in the face of unionized labor, and you have to wonder if the skills gap the author is talking about is really just people adjusting to a non unionized market for their skills.