Are there enough Job Openings for those who want Jobs?

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   My Esotericposted 9 years ago

   The short answer for those on the Right is YES.  The short answer for realists is NO.
   
   At the end of Aug 2014, there were about 4.3 million private job openings.  At the same time there were:
   - 92 million who did not want a job; instead they wanted to be students, housemothers or fathers, street people, etc
   - 9.3 million people who did not have jobs but would have taken one, if offered
   - 6.3 million people actively looking for work.
   
   Further:
   - 1.4 million (32%) of the available jobs were in fields which had high barriers to entry. (High-barrier jobs make up 30% of total)
   - 0.7 million (16%) had medium barriers to entry (Medium-barrier jobs make up 18% of total)
   - 2.3 million (52%) had low barriers to entry.  (Low-barrier jobs make up 52% of total)
   
   So, how do you stuff 6.3 million people (or 9 million) looking for work into 4.3 million openings, many of which people do not have the high-level of training and experience needed or the mobility to move to where the work is.
   
   Also, exactly where do those in low paying jobs go to improve themselves?

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      MizBejabbersposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      To answer your last question, I'm not sure some of them can go anywhere to improve their chances. Going back to school runs up more debt and still doesn't ensure them a job. Just ask my son who gave up and is paying off a student loan in addition to doing menial construction work. Raising the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour isn't the answer because it raises inflation and devlalues professionals who have worked long and hard to get educations and professional positions, which eventually will put us back into the same situation.
      I think one of the problems is that the trend has been to transmogrify the trade schools into 2-year colleges in an attempt to educate the ineducable and the disinterested. We are not turning out enough skilled tradesmen such as plumbers, electricians, and HVAC technicians. Why does a plumber need to know how to write an essay on Goethe's Faust? One 2-year college here is offering an associates degree in chefs school, and that program is busting at the seams and expanding. So this may be one answer, but  haven't surveyed any of these graduates to see how they fare at getting better jobs in the food industry.
      Most government jobs now require degrees, and even then, they are at a premium, so you have to know someone who can influence your way into a decent one. Starting salaries for primary and secondary public school teachers in my state are very good, so those jobs are at a premium also. However, it isn't fair to the children for someone to take the job just for the money.
      Degrees in popular fields like business, communications, and computers are super-saturated, sometimes even with PhDs. I would recommend that if one wants to get a degree or a degree upgrade to stick with sure fields like medical of any kind, doctor, nurse, pharmaceutical, PT or OT.  Other jobs like firefighter or police aren't for just anyone, so I wouldn't count on that. Another suggestion for a well-paying career would be in the death industry, which grosses some people out. All the undertakers I know are well-paid, and I'm sure casket salespeople are, too.
      I really think the situation is hopeless for a certain group of people unless we find some way to bring jobs back to this country because some people can work a factory line, but they aren't physically able to crawl under a house or into an attic.

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   2. 82

      JayeWisdomposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Realism and the far right are mutually exclusive terms, since factual job availability stats aren't good for the GOP propaganda machine. Their objective is to make voters believe that everyone accepting any type of governmental assistance is simply too lazy to work and only wants something for nothing. I realize that there are people who fit that description, but there are also numerous unemployed people in the U.S. who desperately want a job with decent pay and benefits to support their families, have looked diligently, but can't find work.
      
      And...my opinion of those politicians who cut the SNAP benefits that feed the hungry, cut off unemployment benefits to those who CAN'T find jobs and constantly try to gut these programs--in short, those who would take away the safety nets of those who direly need them with no compunction, of whom Paul Ryan is the worst...well, I can't write it on this forum because HubPages rightly does not like extreme profanity. And I simply can't discuss these !@#$%^ without calling them what they truly are! For similar reasons, I can't use the word 'Republican' in speech without prefacing it with a colorful adjective that now seems part of the term to me.

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      1. 85

         My Esotericposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I can't agree more, although I try not to use the term Republican but stick with the more correct term, Conservative; I once was a Republican and would be again if sanity returned to the Party.
         
         I am working on a Hub that uses the numbers in this forum to lay the factual basis for the untruths told by Conservatives regarding how easy it is to get jobs or move up the ladder.  In the meantime, I thought I would start this forum.
         
         It just occured to me from your comment that while the Left focuses on the top 1% in this country where some among them do the greatest harm to America, the Right focuses on the 1% who abuse the system (and then say it is the whole barrel of apples that does) whose total harm to the country is minor in the larger scheme of things.  What it really is, I think, is having just one person who violates their unique vision of the "rugged individual" is one too many and is destroying the American way; whatever that is.

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         1. 82

            JayeWisdomposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            You explained that beautifully, My Esoteric, and unemotionally. That's my problem with discussing this topic and others derived from the extreme right. I do get emotional, which (of course) hampers my ability to write about it in objective, factual terms. That's why I don't write political hubs or even get close to political forums.  I can't guarantee my fangs won't emerge! 
            
            Thanks, by the way, for your well-researched, factual and well-rendered hubs about topics that are very important. I envy (just a bit) your very logical mind and magical way with statistics. Alas, those are not my strong or even adequate abilities.

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            1. 85

               My Esotericposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Well, thank you very much, Jaye, I appreciate your kind words.  Being detached and mathematically inclined has its drawbacks however on the social side.  Google "INTP" for an insight to what I mean.

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