Creating Qualified Jobseekers

Fluke – While that is a positive trend in the marketplace, employers report a shortage of qualified candidates to fill entry-level jobs. Eighty-five percent say it is difficult to very difficult to find entry-level workers with acceptable skills—for industrial positions that number grows to 93 percent. More than half of the employers surveyed said job candidates lack enough years of on-the-job experience to effectively perform in their positions. And while the majority report that their new hires have basic electrical test tool knowledge, they are looking for job candidates with more hands-on experience, troubleshooting expertise, and “soft skills” like problem-solving abilities. What does the opportunity look like then, for a fresh graduate with school-level training, if employers only have room on their teams for experienced candidates? more> http://tinyurl.com/c89ak2g

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10 Reasons To Stay At A Job For 10 Or More Years

By David K. Williams – Forbes Contributor
 Jeanne Meister recently wrote that Job Hopping Is The New Normal For Millenials.

Say what?? With all due respect, Jeanne, I 100% disagree.

Monster.com says job hopping (which most sources define as less than two years) is a potential career killer. Think about what you’re really “telling” your next employer, Monster says:

• Your job is too hard
• You’re bored
• You can’t get along with people
• You’re jumping for money alone

more> http://tinyurl.com/9u8ktfm

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Education Is the Key to Better Jobs

Brookings – Few issues are more critical than putting Americans back to work. With the economy adding private-sector jobs for the last 30 consecutive months and the unemployment rate continuing to tick down, another concern has begun to dominate the discussion. Is it enough to find a job, or should we be more focused on the quality of that job? For those Americans who have been displaced in the workforce, what are their prospects of finding comparable employment in the 21st century, post-recession economy? After all, having a job—any job—does not guarantee a wage that will support a family. How, then, can we foster an economy that produces quality, high-paying jobs? more> http://tinyurl.com/cvtmb3p

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Department of Labor Threatens Personal and Commercial Privacy

English: The Frances Perkins Building located at 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Built in 1975, the modernist office building serves as headquarters of the United States Department of Labor.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Stuart Anderson – The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is threatening the personal and commercial privacy of skilled foreign nationals and U.S. employers, including startups and entrepreneurs. A new Department of Labor proposal to add 50 new information fields to the standard labor condition application (LCA) required for H-1B visa holders seems designed to punish employers that tap the global labor pool and to prevent foreign nationals from working in the United States.

Moreover, the new DOL policy would require employers to divulge information in a public access file, available to anyone upon request, that would include sensitive information about clients and revenue. more> http://tinyurl.com/8rp8d4g

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Education, Job Openings, and Unemployment in Metropolitan America

unemployment (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

By Jonathan Rothwell – [INTERACTIVE PROFILER] An analysis of labor markets using data on adult educational attainment, occupations, and job openings in the 100 largest metropolitan areas from January of 2006 to February of 2012 finds that:

• Advertised job openings in large metropolitan areas require more education than all existing jobs, and more education than the average adult has attained
• Metro areas vary considerably in the level of education required by job openings posted online
• Unemployment rates are 2 percentage points higher in large metro areas with a shortage of educated workers relative to demand and have been consistently higher since before the recession
• Unemployment rates are 2 percentage points higher in large metro areas with a shortage of educated workers relative to demand and have been consistently higher since before the recession
• Metro areas with higher education gaps have experienced lower rates of job creation and job openings over the past few years

In the short-term, unemployment rates are unlikely to come down to their pre-recession levels without improvements in housing markets and consumer demand. Yet high educational attainment is essential for the health of  metropolitan labor markets before, during, and after recessions. Educational attainment makes workers more employable, creates demand for complementary less educated workers, and facilitates entrepreneurship. more> http://tinyurl.com/8z59u7c

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