President Obama: Jobs and Unemployment

With a nationwide unemployment of 12 million, 3.8 million jobs in the U.S. remain unfilled.  If all available jobs were filled we could cut the unemployed number in the U.S by nearly one third.  The number of unemployed would be the same as it was in 2004 (8.2 million) when President Bush told Americans to “get a job” and to be like his friend and not bitch and moan about it (imagine the public outrage if President Obama had said something like that).  President Bill Clinton stated “there are already more than three million jobs open and unfilled in America today, mostly because the applicants don't have the required skills."    President Obama is investing in community colleges to provide education and career-training programs, ensuring that everyone who works hard can get ahead.  In contrast, Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney cut funding for community colleges in Massachusetts by 17%. By 2006, tuition in Massachusetts was 59% higher than the national average.  I searched indeed.com to see how many jobs were available in Miami, FL the results were 17,812 full-time positions.  130 of the results were for shift manager which just requires basic skills that should be taught to students in school.  We should see improvements in skills being taught in schools once the results start coming in from President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative, which has already helped spur 46 states to raise standards by rewarding innovation and positive reforms in local schools.  America needs to be educated and ready for the future in order to be competitive in the workforce.  If we don’t reform our Nation’s schools soon manufacturing jobs will be leaving the U.S. for skilled labor instead of cheap labor.  Millions of manufacturing jobs are being lost to automation all over the world.  US manufacturing output is increasing all the while the number of jobs is decreasing because of productive advancements in robotics.  In the future, many will need an Associate’s degree in Robotics Technology or a Bachelor’s in Engineering to work in the manufacturing field. 

 

For decades, Mike Hummon, an unemployed substitute music teacher, was frustrated in his quest to become a school band director.

Now, he good-naturedly endures frustrations of a different sort as a 53-year-old student in an accelerated manufacturing class.

He isn't just seeking a new career as an operator of computer-controlled factory machines. Hummon, a dishwasher, two social service workers and several laid-off manufacturing and construction workers are on the front line of a campaign to close a puzzling gap in the labor market that has many U.S. employers struggling to find skilled workers despite the 7.8% jobless rate.

They're among 64 students taking part in a new program at two Minnesota community colleges called Right Skills Now that trains them in just about 4 months to run computer numerical controlled (CNC) machines. At graduation, they're virtually assured a job in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area at a starting wage of about $18 an hour after a six-week paid internship.

Experts say the program could serve as a national model for employers needing skilled workers yesterday and many jobless Americans unable to spend two years earning associate degrees.

It's one of the early efforts to close the nation's much-bemoaned skills gap. Economists say many unemployed workers don't have the skills for new, highly technical jobs in manufacturing, health care, information technology and other fields — mismatches that keep unemployment higher than it should be in an economic recovery.

“Last year, Darlene Miller, a member of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, approached the Manufacturing Institute, the industry's workforce training arm, and the two groups developed the fast-track program. The first session, at the Minnesota colleges, ended in late spring, with the vast majority of students landing jobs after graduating.”   -USAToday

A Right Skills Now program recently began in Nevada, and one will soon launch in Michigan. The initiative is expected to spread across the country and graduate more than 100,000 in the next few years as part of President Obama's goal of awarding manufacturing certifications to 500,000 community college students by 2016, says Jennifer McNelly, who heads the Manufacturing Institute. Courses in welding, production and other factory skills are also planned.  A pipeline of skilled factory workers is sorely needed, especially with Baby Boomers retiring. A year ago, 600,000 skilled manufacturing jobs were unfilled, and 80% of manufacturers couldn't find proficient workers, according to a survey by the institute and Deloitte.

After shrinking by 2.3 million in the recession, manufacturing employment has grown by 500,000 since early 2010 on rising exports and a resurgent auto industry. Many former apparel and textile workers whose jobs were shipped overseas lack the skills to operate automated machines in expanding sectors such as autos, aerospace and medical devices.

Mike Hunter, a 23-year construction worker who's been out of work since he was hurt on the job a year ago, says simply, "I needed to do something different."  The program "gets you in the workforce so quickly,"

Hunter says the hourly pay of a CNC operator is comparable to construction, but he expects to earn more because the work is steadier.

The Right Skills Now approach — rapidly giving workers specific expertise — could be a new protype. Manufacturers that routinely trained new employees no longer have the time or resources because entry-level skills are more sophisticated in a digital age, says Anthony Carnevale, head of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

"You really need something to get you through the door" at a firm — then acquire more skills later, Carnevale says.

By contrast, workers who take two years to earn an associate’s degree may find their skills less relevant upon graduation in light of ever-evolving technology, says Deloitte director John Hagel.

A stream of qualified CNC operators can't come quickly enough for New Hope-based Custom Mold & Design, which has sought several for months. General Manager Mark Morris says the company, which makes factory molds, robot parts and surgical tools, could boost production by 50% if it were fully staffed. Instead, raw metal for planned jobs piles up and some CNC milling machines sit idle, doors open and inner chambers darkened.

Dave Swanson, operations manager of Viking Drill & Tool in St. Paul, was so desperate for a CNC operator that he hired Ryan Lohoner even before Lohoner completed his Dunwoody class. Lohoner, 36, who was laid off from his courier job last year, more than doubled his former $10 hourly wage.

2.5 million American manufacturing jobs were lost to outsourcing in the last decade.  38% of North American manufacturers surveyed by manufacturing sourcing Web site MFG.com in June 2011 had plans to research a move back to North America.  S. 3816 (111th): Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act would have given tax cuts to American manufacturers that bring jobs back to the United States.  S. 3816 provided tax cuts for manufacturers coming back to the U.S. by taking the tax cuts from outsourcers.  Without this proposed amendment outsourcers can deduct costs for moving expenses to leave the U.S. and stick it to the U.S. taxpayer.  S. 3816 was blocked by the Senate GOP in September of 2010.  Based on my calculations assuming that 1/3 of the manufacturers in the Survey were U.S. based and adjusting for the fact that automation allows one U.S. worker to do the work of 3, had the Senate GOP voted in favor of the Democrats bill we would have brought back 108,333 manufacturing jobs in addition to the 459,000 U.S. manufacturing has added since January 2010—the most growth in a decade.  If re-elected, President Obama plans to sign legislation like S.3816 after it is passed by Congress.  But he can’t do it alone. Remember his 2008 campaign slogan “Yes We Can”.  Well I bolded the WE for a reason.  If the President could pass bills without Congress his slogan would have been “Yes I Can”.  In the upcoming election if you want to see real “change” please vote out any Congressional obstructionists.  I will post a list of elected officials who blocked S. 3816 in the comments soon. 

President Barack Obama’s signature health care legislation will provide an economic boost to Maryland, according to a report by the Hilltop Institute at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.  The report said it would create 26,000 jobs in the health care and other sectors and pad state and local coffers with $237 million in new tax revenue each year. Additionally, by 2020, 330,000 more Marylanders would be given health insurance.  State savings were projected at $672 million.  I searched indeed.com using the terms “health care” refined by full-time jobs in Baltimore, MD.  The results as of 10/9/2012 were 4,090 jobs in the “health care” industry.

Moody’s Analytics, in an August forecast, predicts 12 million jobs will be created by 2016 based on the current trajectory of the U.S. economy and Macroeconomic Advisors in April also predicted a gain of 12.3 million jobs.  If re-elected president Obama will have created an estimated 12,632,000 jobs in his eight years as President even if we continue with all the blockage (I couldn't think of a better word, Congress is constipated) in Congress.  Imagine how great our country could be if we vote out all the incumbents who want to attach abortion and religion to every bill.

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