Handling Finances

On Minnesota Public Radio today, I once again heard about how even as manufacturers are shipping some jobs overseas, there are not enough skilled workers to fill the demand in many industries. This story in particular focuses on manufacturing in Minnesota, but the shortages aren’t limited to Minnesota alone. Demand for work visas for non-Americans is far above the 65,000 yearly allotment and easily a thousand applications for those spots are submitted just on the first day they’re available each year. It’s not all great news for American workers, but there’s good news for those willing to specialize.

While many jobs like technical support and unskilled labor are being outsourced to China and Singapore where labor is significantly cheaper, there is still a need for skilled workers like machinists and welders in manufacturing jobs that cannot easily or cheaply be moved out of the country. This is potentially bad news for unskilled workers with relatively low-paying jobs who cannot compete with the incredibly low cost of labor in other countries. At the same time, it offers the potential for better paying and more secure jobs for those who can learn valuable skills.

There’s a similar problem in nursing where we currently have a shortage of around 100,000 nurses that’s expected to increase to over 300,000 by 2020. Nursing is a stressful job with often difficult hours, but again, it is much better paying than the sort of unskilled labor that’s being shipped abroad.

The computer software industry is in a bit of a different position where intense competition drives prices and profits very low. While many programming jobs are being moving to other countries, I read one estimate that around 50% of computer programmers in America on work visas are simply taking jobs that Americans are trained for but for lower pay. Industries like this lead many to logically oppose an increase in the number of work visas issued each year, and to push for better oversight of granted visas (work visas are meant to go to skilled workers when their particular skills are difficult to find in existing American workers).

What should an American worker do?

Learn a skill.  Unskilled experience on an assembly line or in telemarketing or tech support won’t provide job security and won’t offer any opportunities to broaden your skill set.  Take night or weekend classes, and be willing to consider taking a pay cut to build some initial work experience in skilled jobs like welding and nursing as simple certification does not always translate into high wages.

It’s also extremely important to continue learning while employed.  At my work, there are regular lectures and short courses on a wide range of technologies my company is involved with.  Learning about different fields not only helps me to do my job, but it also keeps me informed as to future opportunities.  Keep a list of areas in which you might consider working and keep your eyes and ears open for articles and gossip about employment in those fields.  Very little education is so specific that it cannot be applied to a range of jobs, but skilled work experience is somewhat less transferable (besides the basis of work ethics).  If you get the feeling that your company is fighting to cut the cost of your labor, position yourself to transition into a related field that isn’t being done cheaper in China.  Even if you love your job and don’t want to leave, there’s little downside in being prepared and gaining skills!

One thing you should  not do is decide that you’re entitled to your current job.  While the government can give up overall economic growth for the preservation of jobs in a small sector by imposing tariffs and limiting trade, the exporting countries tend to respond with their own tariffs which US cuts jobs in other industries.  While I am of the opinion that everybody should have a chance to earn a living, I’ve never understood the feeling that we are entitled to the job we have.  I certainly appreciate the desire for consistency, but I don’t understand when people complain that because their job can be done cheaper in China or India, we should penalize China and India and keep the cost of the goods and services higher.  Yes, there’s a good argument about working conditions, but at the same time, it seems that we turn to bashing low-paid unskilled laborers in China rather than focusing on what we as Americans can do cheaper and better here in America.  Focus on positioning yourself to do work that takes higher levels of skill and the risk of your job being outsourced will drop dramatically.

I should also note that this isn’t in response to declining US job numbers that came out today (we lost 63,000 jobs in February).   Yes, I’m worried about the current economy, but outsourcing and these issues surrounding skilled/unskilled jobs are only a tiny part of the overall economic climate.  If you lose your job in the current slump, you’ll have to focus on earning money now, but keep your eyes open so you don’t miss opportunities to build skills that will be of value to an employer competing with dirt-cheap unskilled foreign labor.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 8:12 am and is filed under Economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.