US Has 3.2 Million Job Openings Unfilled
Posted By RichC on October 10, 2011
Brian “Sully” Sullivan, one of my favorite reporters and business news anchors who is now on CNBC, wrote and interesting post that addressed unemployment, growing the economy and the correct way to increasing tax revenues — “all without spending a dime of taxpayer money.” The point of the article is that of the 14 million unemployed, there are 3.2 million job opening left unfilled. The problem from the employer side is that these position require skills that the unemployed don’t possess. We need workers with the skills to do these jobs. Unfortunately schools (public and private) aren’t training their graduates with the skills needed for the opening or students aren’t seeing an education in the field where the jobs are offered? Even the Obama administrations job plan and stimulus billions are targeting the need. They keep throwing borrowed money and sacrificed taxpayer dollars at “green” job training where there aren’t any or many available jobs.
Solution: Corporate balance sheets are for the most part good, at least far better than in 2008. Companies have openings for skilled workers that are needed to grow their business, few successfull companies are in business with the intention of remaining stagnant. Also, investment capital for solid companies is at an all time low … why not train your own workforce … or as Sully’s colleague Herb Greenberg says … “train, don’t complain.”
My addition to this would be to run an in-house scholarship training program in a way that both promises a job after successful completion and contracts for that job (x number of years) to guarantee a skilled worker (think military ROTC). This would be WIN, WIN, WIN investment. 1) an American gains skills and gets a good job, 2) an employer fills the position available with a skilled worker, 3) the U.S. taxpayer has one less burden and someone who now pays taxes, increases the nation’s GDP and spends their earning which in turn creates more jobs. If government wants to help … don’t tax those companies doing the training, but encourage them with tax breaks equal to their cost of training (which will be less than extending unemployment, foodstamps and welfare).
Want to add about $100 billion more annually to the US economy and lower the unemployment rate by more than a percentage point—all without spending a dime of taxpayer money?
Fill America’s more than 3.2 million open jobs.
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