The Myth of a Labor Shortage Is Being Propagated by One Big Lobby’s Bunk Little Survey

[Omaha Steve]

http://wepartypatriots.com/wp/2014/09/15/the-myth-of-a-labor-shortage-is-being-propagated-by-one-big-lobbys-bunk-little-survey/




A wave of articles promoting the myth of a “labor shortage” have hit American newsstands of late, and most are using a study from the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) as their basis. But the study comes with a whopper of a disclaimer, one which has been conveniently ignored by the media sources trumpeting the weak data as certain fact. False hope for a labor shortage can’t will it into being.

The AGC is typically a source of reliable employment data, but this study can’t rightfully be placed under the same umbrella. Its findings were derived from 509 survey respondents, all of whom subscribe to the AGC’s construction industry brief (a newsletter of sorts). With nearly 730,000 total construction employers in the United States, the assertions in the report are nothing more than conjecture.

The AGC admits as much in a disclaimer attached to the survey results:

While the results of the survey indicate a shortage of skilled labor in the construction industry and bring to light several implications related to that finding, it is important to know that our sample size is both limited and self-selected. Survey participants were not drawn from the construction industry at large or at random, but rather from those invited to answer the questions, opening up the possibility that survey respondents share more characteristics in common than a random sampling of a similar size.

FULL story at link.

[ck4829]

1. Is this just them repeating that whole 'skills gap' myth again?

Nobody believed in the skills gap because if it's about skills, then just raise wages. So call it a labor shortage instead.

[MisterP]

2. and don't forget "STEM shortage"!

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/378334/what-stem-shortage-steven-camarota
http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=423
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/09/why-the-s-in-stem-is-overrated/279931/
http://www.inc.com/suzanne-lucas/theres-not-a-talent-shortage-you-just-stink-at-hiring.html
http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-stem-crisis-is-a-myth
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/study-there-may-not-be-a-shortage-of-american-stem-graduates-after-all/2013/04/24/66099962-acea-11e2-a8b9-2a63d75b5459_story.html

[madville]

3. I see a bunch of ads with very narrow "minimum qualifications" these days

See an ad for an "Electronics Technician" and they want 5 years minimum experience with PLC controllers, telephone PBX systems, fire alarms, can climb towers to 120 ft, must have a class A CDL commercial drivers license, must have A+ certification and be familiar with Cisco switches/routers.

Does a person qualified for that job even exist? So basically they want about five different employees for the price of one and want to provide no training. No wonder positions like that can't be filled and there are tons of them posted these days.