CNN Money says there aren't any skilled workers in Northeast Indiana

[salvorhardin]

CJR's Ryan Chittum busts the myth and the associated talking points once again.

The headline reads “Northeast Indiana: Hundreds of factory jobs go unfilled.” There’s the counterintuitive top that talks about how even in a recession with high unemployment, manufacturers can’t fill their openings.

Then there’s the head of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s workforce development program—these types of sources are almost always in these stories and they’re often the flacks behind them—who talks about all the druggies and welfare bums filling out applications:

“Applicants are failing drug tests,” she said. “Some apply and then decide they want to wait until their unemployment benefit runs out before taking a factory job.”

That quote gets at a big hole in this story: There’s zero discussion of what kind of wages these supposedly unfillable jobs actually pay. Indiana unemployment benefits top out at $390 a week (pre-tax), and they only last six months. That’s the equivalent of a less-than-$10-an-hour job. In other words, if lots people are sitting home on the dole rather than taking jobs, as the Chamber of Commerce would have us believe, these manufacturing jobs probably aren’t paying that much more.

Full post: http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/cnnmoney_cant_find_the_workers.php?page=all

Note: x-posted to Indiana forum: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1050155

[Romulox]

1. Indiana is a "right to work" state whose industry is based on undercutting unionized neighbors.

The OP's complaint is like complaining about the technicalities in one's dealings with the devil.

[HopeHoops]

2. Where do they come UP with this bullshit?

[salvorhardin]

3. I have to assume the US Chamber of Commerce is running something similar to ALEC

We just haven't found out about it yet.

[HopeHoops]

5. Well they certainly aren't there to help US!

[uponit7771]

4. See, this is new organizations living in a bubble world...lazy reporting and not trying to look at t

...the face of the story as it's written

[WCGreen]

6. I use to drive through Northeastern Indiana almost weekly back in the 90's...

and I didn't see all that many factories.

To me it looked rural and dotted with small towns that were dyng and large fields of grain.

It's the same over in Northwester Ohio...

[salvorhardin]

10. There are a good number of factories in and around Fort Wayne

Nowhere as many as there used to be, and they don't employ even remotely the same volume of people, but we still have a few.

[WCGreen]

11. that's where I worked, for a radio station in fort Wayne...

I was the accountant for B-106 and did a little air time as Chris the Accountant...

It was fun while it lasted. Your right about that, I just never looked at Ft. Wayne as Northeaster Indiana so I guess you're right...

[salvorhardin]

14. Hey, our public radio station even has it in its name -- Northeast Indiana Public Radio!

Fort Wayne's the 2nd largest city in the state, plus our (discarded) railroad heritage made us a sort of crossroads for the country, so it only makes sense that we'd have a good bit of manufacturing. There used to be so much that was made here. Hell, for a short while, Fort Wayne even pioneered nuclear fusion -- Philo Farnsworth's fusor -- but then ITT abandoned the research and Farnsworth moved to Utah.

[WCGreen]

16. When I was working in Ft Wayne, I remember there was a big tractor factory...

I just never really looked at it as some place like Cleveland, my home town, where they tucked little machine shops everywhere the zoning laws permitted...

[salvorhardin]

17. Yeah, Navistar (formerly International Harvester)

They do a lot more than just tractors, unfortunately they're in the process of leaving for Illinois and taking hundreds of high paying engineering jobs with them. http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120803/BIZ/308039918/1031/BIZ

[twins.fan]

7. This "skills shortage" farce was first used by Bill Gates and Microsoft for labor arbitrage

Thanks salvorhardin!!!

My comments:

This "skills shortage" farce was first used by Bill Gates and Microsoft in justifying their efforts of labor arbitrage of reducing labor costs by hiring cheap, entry level, submissive third world workers via the H1B visa, primarily from India and Red China, instead of US STEM workers desiring to work for a living wage.

Then the technique was picked up by the rest of the tech companies, like Google, Apple, Intel, Oracle, etc.

Now the manufacturing employers are using the same fraud.

Joining the fraud are politicians from both sides anxious to receive corporate campaign contributions.

[salvorhardin]

12. I think the three great labor myths of the past 20-30 years are...

1) There's a lack of skilled workers/STEM graduates (it alternates depending on the industry flack speaking)
2) Our schools are failing/kids don't know nothing
3) There's a teacher shortage

Once one starts looking behind the scenes, it's easy to see how these three myths all reinforce each other and lead to outcomes favorable only to business.

[OhioChick]

8. What a bunch of BS n/t

[salvorhardin]

18. What's a bunch of BS?

The myths spread by CNN Money and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, or Ryan Chittum's myth busting?

[OhioChick]

19. That there aren't any skilled workers in Northeast Indiana

????

[twins.fan]

9. Are you saying the employer is leaving money on the table because of lack of workers? Yeah, right!

Another comment:

This is total BULL! If the employer was leaving money on the table because of the lack of workers, they would be finding the most qualified candidates and providing training to make up the difference.

[Enrique]

13. a pattern at CNN Money

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021012959

[salvorhardin]

15. Haha!

Yep, CNN Money has the best stenographers in the business. Nobody can paraphrase a right wing press release like they can.