Scott, that’s one of the best insights I’ve heard from you, and I read most of what you write here (and at Scrappleface.) Not only are good jobs going unfilled, many of my (non-union) clients are forced to re-think, reorder and dumb down perfectly good business processes to accommodate workforces lacking requisite skills common only fifteen years ago, and that’s after raising wages to attract a “higher” level of talent. My heart breaks for some of the laid off union applicants I’ve seen. As you say, they’ve been deprived of opportunities to grow and acquire today’s skills.
Entry level positions must be filled by products of our educational system which has managed to combine ignorance, risk aversion and entitlement, producing a mostly useless crop of graduates.
We can still find risk takers and innovators, but not for all the bread-and-butter jobs where even a modicum of judgment and initiative are required.
