More Shortage Shouting

Date: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 1:10 PM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

According to this article, employers just can't find enough "skilled"
people to fill these jobs:

nurses
nursing teachers
certified nursing assistants
Information technology and telecommunication
manufacturing
utilities
construction
agriculture
maintenance and repair jobs
electricians
plumbers
pipefitters

With so many employers desperate to hire "skilled" workers it's
surprising our unemployment keeps rising.

http://aolpf5.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B92E27FC5%2DEDE6%2D4FED%2DB16F%2D5A52261B0B4E%7D&siteid=aolpf

Jobs desperate for applicants

Government urged to address skilled worker shortage

By Jon Groat, Medill News Service
Last Update: 12:03 AM ET May 28, 2003

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - When John Puranasopar realized there was a
serious shortage of nurses in Chicago, the critical care nurse didn't
add hours or forego vacation days to work more. Instead, he quit his
job.

Now, he makes triple his nursing salary by recruiting and managing
highly sought-after temporary nurses for United Medical Staffing.

"We knew there was a huge nursing shortage and there would continue to
be one," Puranasopar said.

But health care, facing the deep prick of a 1-million-nurse shortfall
in 2010, isn't the only industry lacking skilled labor. In a recent
survey of 3,700 employers by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 50 percent
of employers said it's hard to find qualified workers for their empty
positions, and only 40 percent said their employees' skills meet their
job requirements.

"Even though we have a (6 percent) unemployment rate none of us are
happy with, the long-term trend is that we will have a worker shortage,
especially skilled workers," Labor Secretary Elaine Chao told a U.S.
Chamber of Commerce conference on creating a skilled workforce two
weeks ago.

Employers seeking to fill skilled manufacturing jobs may face the
biggest challenge as the number of workers who meet their needs will
fall from 33 percent to 21 percent by 2005, according the U.S.
Chamber's survey.

Information technology and telecommunication employers predicted a
decline from 41 percent to 33 percent while utilities, construction and
agriculture companies predicted a decline from 46 percent to 35 percent
in workers that meet their skill requirements.

"Certainly, we've been hearing of a shortage of skilled labor for
certain occupations," said Department of Labor economist Jon Sargeant.
But he said such shortages are based on anecdotal evidence as opposed
to any hard data.

"We're hearing about shortages in a lot of the skilled occupations that
don't require a college degree but require considerable on-the-job
training or vocational training," Sargent said. He singled out
construction as well as maintenance and repair jobs as some of those
that may face shortfalls.

Specifically, CBSMarketwatch reported skilled construction jobs will be
in high demand with 488,000 new jobs by 2010. Of that number, 250,000
new jobs will open for electricians and 134,000 for plumbers and
pipefitters.

Help needed

Some say the government has done little to alleviate the skilled-worker
shortage in a time when April's unemployment figures show 8.8 million
people out of work and looking for jobs. Under the $6.6 billion
Workforce Investment Act of 1998, federal, state and local partnerships
set up almost 2,000 One-Stop Career Centers with 7,500 offices around
the country. The goal was to replace the Job Training Partnership Act
and provide a variety of job-seeking services and training under one
roof.

But the number of laid-off workers being served by the new program has
dropped sharply. About 52 percent fewer laid-off workers received
training during the first year of the new program compared with the
last year of the old program, according to a February study of 14 areas
in six states by the General Accounting Office, which is the
investigative arm of Congress.

The Labor Department said the falloff was due to the fundamental change
in the system where many of those who use the much extended services
don't need training, according to Mason Bishop, Deputy Assistant
Secretary of Labor for employment and training.

"The first full year was 2000 and in that year there was lower
unemployment," Bishop said. "Most people would just come in, get
referrals and go right back into the market."

More can be done, some say

Health care groups have a second opinion.

"There are pockets where [the system has] worked very well, linking up
the providers and the one-stops," said Mike Hogan of the American
Health Care Association. "For the most part that's been the exception
more than the rule."

Hogan said the centers haven't done enough to connect employers, such
as health care providers, with either training facilities or the
unemployed.

Only 41 percent of employers are aware the centers exist and just 19
percent actually use them, according to the U.S. Chamber's survey. The
Labor Department's Bishop was quick to point out that the percentage is
up from 5 percent the year before.

The solution, AHCA's Hogan said, is for the centers to build better
relationships and to build them creatively.

For example, Tampa, Fla., nursing schools are turning away qualified
applicants because there's a nursing teacher shortage in addition to
the city's nursing shortage, Hogan said.

If the one-stop centers connected health care providers to schools to
lend nurses for teaching, more new nurses could be trained and the
career centers would become more effective, he said.

A less complicated case for the centers may be the shortage of
certified nursing assistants, positions that require only 75 hours of
training in some states. Currently, there are more than 50,000 empty
assistant positions in nursing homes alone, according to an American
Health Care Association study released May 7.

The Labor Department said it's working hard to help the centers
understand the needs of their communities and tailor their programs
appropriately. "We've made dramatic progress," Bishop said.

Specifically, the deputy labor secretary said, the agency created a
business relations group to cultivate better ties with employers and
"bring them to the table."

Bishop pointed to the Denver-based HCA project in which the department
helped a hospital management company partner with a community college.
The group then streamlined the college's nursing program, reducing the
amount of time it takes from 24 to 16 months.

But individual centers seem to be more concerned with serving as a
job-finding resource than with training. Tracy Mitchell runs the
one-stop Yonkers Employment Center in Yonkers, New York.

"We're not in the career-changing field here," Mitchell said. Her
center doesn't focus on matching the unemployed with new jobs in highly
skilled fields. "We'll help them enhance the skills they already have,
but we're really trying to find them a job as quickly as possible."

Meanwhile Congress is debating another shot in the arm for the system.

The House recently passed a bill, the Workforce Reinvestment and Adult
Education Act of 2003, that Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif., said would
result in "strengthening the infrastructure of the one-stop delivery
system, improving accountability, enhancing the role of employers and
increasing states' and local flexibility."

Critics have noted the bill would allow employers who discriminate
based on religious faith to participate in the federally funded
program.

The Senate will most likely debate the issue later this year, according
to Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee spokeswoman
Christine Iverson.

"It's going to be a much harder chore in the Senate," Secretary Chao
said about getting the bill passed. She said the one-person Republican
majority might not be enough to keep the Democrats from killing the
bill.

While businesses complain to Congress about the lack of trained
workers, the shortage isn't bad for everybody - Puranasopar of the
temporary-nurses staffing agency, said his clients make about $20 to
$25 an hour more than their full-time counterparts.

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