Federal Workforce Skills Commission
We all know how bad the economy is. We’ve heard about the millions that are unemployed. Many of you reading this may be one of those without a job. The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that unemployment is at an all time high and is now at 9.5% for the country.
Yet, if you go onto any on-line job search site there are thousands of job openings if not millions. So – if there are millions of jobs available, why are there millions of people unemployed?? In a survey of business owners in December, many said they were hiring and there was no shortage of applicants – but there was a shortage of skilled workers. They would hire if they found an applicant that had the skills that they needed for their company.
Today, our colleges and universities are at capacity – many adding more buildings and departments. It’s not just the kids fresh out of high school, either. Many adults that have been in the workforce for many years are back in school. We’ve heard it preached all of our lives that the way to get ahead is to get an education. I whole-heartedly agree. But – are we getting the wrong education? Let’s get the picture here. More and more people are being educated yet millions have no job because they have the wrong education.
Ironic, isn’t it. To pull ourselves out of the unemployment quagmire, we need to have more skilled workers – educated skilled workers. Everyone needs a college degree but that degree needs to be in a field that will prepare her/him for viable employment when finished. One of the best initiatives our new president and his cabinet could put forth and make happen would be to create a new department to spearhead and coordinate the training of the workforce to meet the needs of industry. As it stands now, both industry and government depend on our education system to train workers. However, the Department of Education and the Department of Labor do not have the same goals. We need someone to be able to look at the big picture and determine the type workers America needs, now and for the future. We need a department or agency called the Federal Workforce Skills Commission.
This federal agency then would create a 10-year plan to meet the goal of an educated and skilled workforce. The plan would be broken down into 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year time-bound goals. Then, the plan would be distributed to industry and education with each directly reporting the results of the program to the FWSC in Washington. Now I know that the last thing we need is another agency in the federal government. But people, we have to do something! With so many unemployed people with the wrong skills, there is a breakdown somewhere in the system.
I’d be interested to hear your comments!
Ted,
I can’t think of a worse way to fix this problem, and I agree that it is a problem.
Government is the problem, not the solution. Our schools listen to the governments, state and federal, rather than the businesses that hire graduates. If we could get the government out of education, maybe, just maybe the universities would listen to businesses.
Government is always the problem because there is not bottom line and no accountability for the regulators. The vast majority can’t be fired no matter what they do. They can’t earn more pay or less pay from what they do. They are in no way responsible for outcomes or what results from what they do. So they only serve their masters those being their bosses and the politicians who control their budgets. Their highest bosses are mostly appointed by politicians and none of the politicians understand much of anything except how to get votes or how to buy votes to sustain their political careers.
So governments are always the problem, never the solution to anything. Jefferson had it right as did Reagan.
Best regards, Ben
1Agreed: “. . . schools listen to the governments . . . rather than the businesses that hire graduates.” . . . and there-in lies the problem. However, the schools get their funding from the government. Hopefully, this article will spur a solution since we agree there is a problem. Thanks Ben.
2The solution is relatively simple.
Stop funding schools from governments. Give vouchers to the students, actually the family with students. Allow them to spend these vouchers wherever they want. If they want to use the voucher to send their child to a private school, chances are they will have to put out some of their own money, but that should be allowed in order to support competition.
Families aren’t stupid and they want their children to be employable, not educated in some ideology which is the way it is done with government funding schools directly. Most families know that it is reading, writing and arithmetic, not feminism, socialism, multiculturalism or whatever.
Best regards, Ben
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