Sadly, too many people choose to collect their three years' worth of unemployment rather than go to work. Studies have shown that when unemployment benefits are about to run out, people find jobs.

I agree that many people are lacking the motivation to get the skills needed for a good job.

Before I retired, I was personnel director of a large federal agency. We constantly had people who were on unemployment apply for jobs, but when we told them they would have to start at the bottom, they declined. I can't tell you how many times I heard "I can't accept a job making that little--I made $XXXXX at my job." My response: "Yes, but that was then, and this is now...and our offered salary is more than zero, which is what you are earning now." More often than not, they chose to remain on unemployment!

In my family, all the kids have a bachelor's degree minimally. My two sons and son-in-law work long weeks (7 days is not unusual) and long days. They make good money, but then they should for jobs that require such long hours, sometimes through the night when business gets busy or complicated.

I do think that we need a better coordination of informing workers where the jobs will be in the next decade and what training they will need. For example, we always read that we need more teachers, but teachers have been laid off by the hundreds and thousands with the budget cuts. Yes, the school districts still need them, but they do not have the money to pay them and so they are not hiring.

gibby, what line of work/type of jobs are you talking about? Are they all technology related?

I know there are always some slackers... but most professionals and people I know are "under"employed right now and would love a chance to do a more challenging job.

Maybe there's something missing??? Are you paying the US going rate for the jobs? I know some employers think because of the economy they can pay whatever they want, but that's not always true with professional jobs... you kind of do get what you pay for. I'd try offering a higher salary and see what the cat drags in...

Gibby...I would be interested in knowing the location of these available jobs that you don't have qualified applicants for. And how your company activly recruits.

ML

Yes I am concerned too. Many young people have been brought up in what I call the gimme generation where they expect things handed to them free. They lack motivation to improve their education, because frankly so much has been given to them on a silver platter. Other countries have much higher work ethics that are taught from the time a child enters school. For example, some parents here don't seem to mind when kids skip school, in fact many parents take their kids out of school to go on vacations and other unnecessary reasons. It doesn't matter what grade one gets in university as long as you pass. Therefore you can sail along without even really trying and still pass and get that all important degree. Gone is the incentive to work to the best of your ability.

A saying I have heard often is "I want my kids to have everything I didn't get in life". Many young adults now are simply spoiled. A friend of mine has a son who recently stated, "Any person that bothers to work is stupid". He would rather stay living at home, party, watch TV and collect free unemployment. Until we teach our kids better work ethics, to accept more responsibility and to work for minimum wages to start their careers, jobs will be outsourced to other countries that have better higher standards and expectations.

I noticed this in nursing, the younger generations simply aren't willing to work as hard as the older nurses. At night they take longer breaks so that they can sleep and then stay up to look after their kids during the day. It was the older nurses that ended up skipping their breaks to ensure that the patients had the best of care.

The jobs are there, yes you have to be motivated enough to go looking for them, accept lower paying jobs until the right job comes along. Start volunteering in a field where you might later get the career of your choice. Resumes showing motivation and responsibility are very important.

A GW friend recently sent me a Wall Street Journal article that addressed this subject. Here's the beginning of it:

WSJournal JUNE 6, 2011
Industry Puts Heat on Schools to Teach Skills Employers Need

Big U.S. employers, worried about replacing retiring baby boomers, are wading deeper into education and growing bolder about telling educators how to run their business.

Several initiatives have focused on manufacturing and engineering, fields where technical know-how and math and science skills are needed and where companies worry about recruiting new talent.

Their concerns are borne out by the math and science test scores of 15-year-old students in the U.S., which continue to lag behind China, Japan, South Korea and Germany, for example. BTW, retired people pay taxes, too. :-)

The positions we're trying to fill are in multiple major metropolitan areas. We recruit both active and passive candidates on a variety of job boards, through linked in, etc. Our comp and benefits are very generous - even for someone who is employed. These are technology jobs some more technical than others - software engineers, MIS, project management, etc. In addition to those specific skills you have to demonstrate enough intelligence that you can keep learning new things since this industry changes alot. You also have to be able to communicate effectively - less so for programmers who don't interact with customers. And yup I know retired people pay taxes. That's what I mean - even if you're no longer in the work environment it's still a concern if you are paying taxes or are otherwise wondering if or how we will sustain the American way of life that we've had in the past.

I think a big part of what got us in our current predicament was all kinds of people in all walks of life wanting more than they were willing to work hard to earn and looking for an easy way to get it. That's a house of cards that just doesn't work long term.

I have concerns that have been outlined already along with more. The "I want a union job or a government job, then I don't have to work..." attitude and wanting a small business to compete in wages and benefits, and flexible, extended breaks, call in sick when they want a day off and more. Raising kids to expect everything for free. Teach them that stealing, lying, cheating and the like are acceptable. How do you expect kids to have ethics when the parents don't? Then there's the teachers that don't have to teach. Graduate the kid out so they don't lose funding. It's someone else's problem. Kids can't make change, spell or communicate without a telephone in front of them. College is a party time. A time to "sow your wild oats" but it never really ends for many.

The Amish have what they call Rumspringa where teens are encouraged to go out, experiment and explore and learn different ways but there's a time limit and then they have to make a decision. Interesting concept, and seems to be quite effective. I don't know the actual percentage who do not return, but I'm led to believe it's rather low. Seems to be superior to the "English" way, where we often do the reverse - let the kids experiment and explore, then tell them to work, and have ethics. It's surprising how many people who are used to hard work continue that way through their lives. Kind of difficult to learn to work hard later in life.

I have trouble coming down too hard on people on unemployment. At least they *worked* to get it! I have problems with the ones who won't work but expect to have everything and the ones who, from their first job expect to drive a new car every year, buy a house, have all the toys and take expensive vacations several times a year. When someone has worked hard, gets laid off and says they want to take a bit of a break, I don't hold that against them too much except when it's the ones whose jobs were regular layoffs then get called back to work when unemployment ends.

Monetary expectations are disgusting at times. I recall once when someone was saying they wouldn't do jury duty unless they got paid the same salary they make at work! How crazy is that? Societal greed. An infection that is becoming pandemic.

Several things come to this senior's mind. Most companies have done away with apprentice programs where anyone any age could work and learn the job==or work their way up. Yes it was below mim. wages, and most of the time without insurance, but the people (usually kids) really wanted to work. Sue happy people plus insurance companies wiped out that program. Another thing that worked during the 40's was the Bracero (sp) program, where entire families came into the states and worked the farm programs, then went back because they could get enough to last them the entire year. Yes it did work because my grandparents were involved in that program. Great people and good workers. But they did not want to stay here. Their families and friends were not here.
Another thing is some of the people who do work either in the homes, or in stores or factorys seem to think that anything they see or want, they will take. Lack of respect of other peoples properies, I see some of that even in the small town we live in now. In fact many of the small towns cover it up instead of either fines or jail time. Yes it has happened several times in this time.
Working in a bank for many years I was amazed how many people either refused to make out a deposit slip, or did not know how to add/sub or even keep track of what they spent and then got so angry because the bank refused to pay checks without money in the bank. Their answer??well you know I get paid on Friday and yes some of the seniors are still that way because--again their answer is well you know I always get my check on ???
Just ask very few clerks to make change without the machine telling them how much to give back? Most cannot do it.

I agree about the entitlement attitude, but the education seems to have declined too. We've hired several new employees at the mid-career level and they can't write decently. Nouns and verbs don't match, bulleted items don't have parallel construction, they make statements that are not supported by facts, and there is a lot of redundancy. Drives me crazy. I didn't hire these people, but I am often asked to clean up their work. I finally pointed out that it was taking too much time from MY work. (I work longer hours without pay as it is, when they sneak out early.) Can you tell I am older, LOL? They can't do math either.

I think things are going to get much worse before they get better. It seems that teachers are not as skilled as they were.

You know, the number of unprepared workers we have is not from just one thing. As a parent and a volunteer at our schools, I have been amazed at the number of bright kids who do not take challenging classes. They take easy courses that do not prepare them to do well in advanced training or education. Then everyone wonders what went wrong. The teachers may well have been good teachers, but taking chorus, teacher assisting, drawing, and the required English, math, science and social studies at the easiest level will not serve the student well. Parents need to get more involved and set expectations for their students. And that is just some of what I see that is wrong.

Ya, I guess I'm "older" too. On top of the positions we can't fill we have one guy who this week "refused" to do something his manager asked him to do to help another team that was overwhelmed with work because it's "not my job" and "not in my job description". We're not that kind of place - we do whatever it takes to get the job done including helping other groups if they have too much work to do and we have time to help. This guy's assignment for the week was postponed by a customer - he had nothing to do. And frankly it's in his job description to do "other tasks as assigned by the manager". I felt like firing him on the spot - which of course I can't do - have to go through all the steps necessary not to get sued.

Part of the problem is a discrimatory practice now commonplace in businesses. There are qualified people out there who wish to work, but employers won't look at them. If you have been out of work for a year, many HR departments will ignore your application. Some have made the blatant statement in their ads, "If you are unemployed, do not apply for this job." When this practice was brought to light, they stopped making this statement, but the practice continued unannounced.

This country is becoming a third world country right before our very eyes.
Ignorant, uneducated masses compose our cities and towns.Laws are being broken but we reward them with social security, welfare, free housing, etc.They refuse to learn the language and assimilate.
Standards of education are lowered to accomodate them.
Intelligent, educated people from around the world waiting to come here legally never get the opportunity at the rate they should be welcomed.
If somebody told me America would look like this a few decades ago I would have told them they were crazy.
And please don't tell me aout the immigrants from years ago that helped build ths country,,, They did it the old fashioned way..they earned a living. They came here legally and took nothing from the government.
That is the difference.

jemdandy you can't blame employers for that practice. If people are too lazy to get a job (any job) then I wouldn't be hiring them either. The McJobs are out there. People just think they are below their dignity. Sure the pay isn't great but it shows that they are motivated enough to get a job in the interim. That is the type of individual I would want working for me if I was hiring.

Just this past week, there was an article in the Phila Inquirer newspaper about the fact that the public High schools are graduating students with B averages, yet they can't qualify for college courses without taking remedial courses in even English or Math.
There is a severe disconnect between the "dumbed down" curriculum that the public schools offer (and parents accept) and the requirements needed for higher education at technical schools and colleges.

Teachers are graded on their student's grades, and the schools are graded on teacher "performance". The students are the pawns.

I agree that many people take advantage of the extended UE benefits, which often come with food stamps and Medicade. Easier than working for a living.

Is your company looking at older workers as well? It's very frightening to be laid off here (Silicon Valley) when you are over a certain age because companies don't want to pay your health costs and a decent wage. Does your company not use recruiters? Is it offering health benefits? Is it offering only minimum wage, a wage that is often not enough to live on, let alone raise a family on? There are tons of very,very smart kids coming out of the universities. Our newspaper just yesterday had an article explaining the fact that large companies are preferring to invest in hardware but reluctant to hire because workers of all sorts are more expensive. Many of the larger companies are sitting on a whole lotta cash right now. I am surprised to read your post.

I'm a little surprised too. I graduated from one of the highest-ranked schools in the world, and I now have 6 solid years of experience with a lot of technical skills in database mining and other analytical procedures. I'm trying to relocate to California and it's really hard to get anyone to even look at my resume. Maybe it just depends where you live.

My kids graduated from public high school and never had to take any remedial classes in college. It all stemmed from the fact that they were enrolled every year in challenging science, English, math, and other courses. Students dumb down themselves by looking for the easiest classes to take, and then they wonder why they find post high school advanced training too difficult.

sjerin - ya, we don't hire based on age - it's about substance not the packaging. We're not in silicon valley so we might be a little more open minded about that kind of thing. I can just imagine that it's a bit different there. Unfortunately I think some older workers have not kept current with technical skills. A resume with DOS, Cobol, Fortran and RPGII doesn't get you anywhere these days. Yes we have lots of recruiters working for us. And as I mentioned earlier - our compensation and benefits are very competitive - all the typical stuff you see in any big company except our vacation policy is more generous than a lot of companies. Believe me - the problem is not that it's a crappy company or crummy jobs.

chi83 - I do think it's tougher to get a job if you are not already located where you are wanting to work. A lot of times out of area candidates are passed by because of the potential complications (and expense) of relocating. We did hire a guy from out of state but he had exactly the right skills and had no relocation needs and he could start in two weeks. Though he didn't expect any relo assistance we gave him a signing bonus to help him out with that.

Thanks Gibby. I don't expect anyone to pay my relocation expenses either, but it's definitely harder to get a job remotely. Most companies won't even fly people out for interviews, so that doesn't help either. I'm currently in Boston so it's a big move.

But, at the same time, it's reckless to move without a job so what can you do? :) I'll keep applying and hopefully something will stick.

Not exactly a response to Gibby's post, but...

A HS diploma means *nothing* today. You can't get the most common, hum-drum, white collar job without a college degree. That's nuts, and colleges are making a fortune because of it.

I look at things a little differently then some do. Parents have to work at getting kids educated these days, too. If a teacher doesn't have a parents backing on behavior in the classroom what do you think the kid is going to do. It all starts very early in a childs life. There are loads of kids, as well as adults, out there that would love to have a good paying job. Lazy people come in all ages these days. We raised 3 kids and worked darn hard at teaching hard work and respecting others.. Having one of my kids live at home and not work is out of the question. They wouldn't have a car or any other luxury that would have to be paid by us. If someone isn't taught that life is not a free ride they will work.. And they darn well shouldn't be able to live off of all of us that do work..

I agree, susie.
I was just yesterday talking to an early childhood educator about the time, money and effort put into making educational resources available to children, especially low income... but none little or no effort to educate and/or include the parents on THEIR responsibilities, especially since many of these parents are the result of no parental involvement or interest in their own education.

I agree with Chisue. We have over-educated under skilled people applying for work.

College has been dumbed down so everyone can go. It's just doing time for many. Some don't even know why they are there. It's just expected.

DH is in the machine trade. His experience has been that those who hire have no experience in the field, could not tell you the first thing what a model maker, a tool and die maker or a CNC operator does but they are the ones who decide. Because they are book smart and industry dumb they hire by how much paper knowledge you can present on your resume.

DS is in computer tech. He went to a technology magnet in high school. Quickly became disillusioned. I kid you not when I say the same teacher who was failing him for not turning in lab note would call him at home at night for assistance with his PC. LOL In college he found that once again the teachers had little knowledge of what they were supposed to be teaching. This is a kid who was writing code for "fun" with his friends from his teens. His friends were all a decade or so older than him. He was on the team that designed the first autonomous robot for robot wars before most people had even heard of robot wars. He went to DefCon every year and was part of one of the teams the FBI was most interested in learning from. Tried college and got bored with the same crap he encountered in high school.

My point is that if you want someone who knows their stuff in technology you have to look outside the box. The best computer people are not always those with a Computer Science or Software Engineering degree. Many of them just went into it for the money they were "promised". Some don't have the skills to solve the most basic problem because thy have been book taught and lack critical thinking skills. You want the ones who do it because it's what they do because they love it.

DS does plan to go back someday and get a degree. But today he is wise enough to know he should get it for himself. Last time I talked to him he said he might major in history.

Steve Jobs, the Woz and their friends in the Homebrew Club didn't build that first PC in the garage because they went to Stanford or Berkeley. They did it because they were intelligent innovators who loved their "hobby".

Keep an eye on Chicago. You will see the end of public education draw closer as *investors* see more opportunities for public funds by investing in more Charter Schools for K - 12. (A leaf out of the "Phoenix"-type 'colleges'.) It will all be disguised as better opportunities for children. Hah!