Re:How Does America “Reshore” Skills That Have Disappeared?
by Animats on Thursday March 17, 2016 @04:58PM
(#11307560)
By training people, of course. If you want good welders, you need to set up a welding training course, hire people who can't weld, and teach them to weld properly. There's a corporate mindset that companies should have a "flexible workforce" available to them. This means expecting people to show up with the desired skills at some arbitrary location for a job with no job security and pays slightly above the minimum wage.
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Re:How Does America “Reshore” Skills That Have Disappeared?
by yummyfajitas on Thursday March 17, 2016 @06:37PM
(#11308195)
It usually only makes sense to invest in a good you own. An employer might train a worker, only to have the worker jump ship to a competitor immediately after receiving training.
Historical labor force norms made it more difficult to change jobs which mitigated this problem. In a sense the employer owned the worker and training made sense. Workers now own themselves, so it's up to the worker to invest in their own training.
Do we really want to go back to the older era?
Re:How Does America “Reshore” Skills That Have Disappeared?
by nradov on Thursday March 17, 2016 @07:02PM
(#11308361)
No we don't want to go back, but there is a middle ground. The employer can loan workers the money to pay for training, and then forgive the loan after the worker completes a year or two on the job. That's how my former employer funded part of my graduate school tuition and it seemed completely fair to me.
Re:How Does America “Reshore” Skills That Have Disappeared?
by NeutronBoy on Thursday March 17, 2016 @10:01PM
(#11309325)
It's fairly common. Employers are often more explicit - they'll pay for the training, but if you leave the organisation with 6 months-1 year of completion of training then you have to pay them back for it.
Re:How Does America “Reshore” Skills That Have Disappeared?
by yummyfajitas on Thursday March 17, 2016 @09:35PM
(#11309210)
I have no particular objection to schemes like this, though I'd certainly be wary of offering such a scheme as an employer. I'd be worried about some rabble rouser spinning it to the media as indentured servitude.
Re:How Does America “Reshore” Skills That Have Disappeared?
by jbotttt on Thursday March 17, 2016 @07:54PM
(#11308677)
Implying the past is worse and the future better is a misstep[0].
As others have been saying the problem goes away when you have viable careers in X. At some point it will better value to train someone, though I imagine that point is further away then training yourself.
Re:How Does America “Reshore” Skills That Have Disappeared?
by Animats on Thursday March 17, 2016 @07:42PM
(#11308608)
Instead of forward, to slavery?
Re:How Does America “Reshore” Skills That Have Disappeared?
by TheOtherHobbes on Thursday March 17, 2016 @05:21PM
(#11307713)
Corollary: this only works if that corporate mindset becomes recognised as an economic and political liability, and not as a relentless driver of increased productivity and GDP.