This article adds detail to the picture of the skilled labor crisis (Who’ll replace retiring maintenance pros?).

Part of the problem is termed the compromised education system. The claim is that in most school districts, up to half of students don’t graduate high school. Only 1 out of 3 grads actually has twelfth-grade skills.

The article also bemoans the lack of technical apprenticeships. I can’t tell if this includes vocational school programs. At any rate, it’s said to be another reason that the supply of skilled workers will shrink …

… forcing companies to pay more for them …

… forcing up the cost of goods.

The article recommends investing wisely in skilled workers, lest you be caught short and enter a death spiral. (The last words you want to hear, or I want to type, on a late Friday afternoon …)

By Keith

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Business. 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.