AT&T CEO says hard to find skilled U.S. workers

[weswelker#83]

The head of the top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc (T.N) said on Wednesday it was having trouble finding enough skilled workers.
"If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn't put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080327/...t_workforce_dc

[Fogbuster]

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This has indeed become an increasing problem in the U.S. Shoddy workmanship, no pride in one's work, produces poor quality. America was once the gold standard of production in the world. "Made in the U.S.A." used to be a source of tremendous pride for both the producer and the end user. But now we live in a "ME: first, last, and always" society, where individualism has devolved into selfishism. Has become "every man for himself" all the time. Being the "top dog" has become the obsession. This is not healthy.

Any kind of obsession is a sign of lack of true self-esteem. Instead of teaching kids things like: how to have sex and put on condoms, "for PERSONAL pleasure and protection of SELF", we need to teach the good old-fashioned value of living for the sake of something higher than just myself. That "something higher" is God. God used to bless America for having that attitude, but such a mind-set has been declining steadily for decades. And now God's blessing is leaving America, too. America needs to get it back, and the only way to do that is to truly live for something higher than just one's self.

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[FreeTedWilliams]

They have to say this in order to convince the Dept of Labor to approve there H1-B worker visa petitions so they can pay Indians pennies on the dollar and supress the wages of actual Americans.

Ask any Computer Programmer, and they will tell you the same thing.

[FreeTedWilliams]

Gee, now overlay your map with which party had control of the Congress during those periods, and you will find that the reverse is true.

Gee who took over the Congress in 1994, when all that spending went down? The Republicans have gotten wawy from themsleves with spending the last few years, but do not think for a minute that the Democrats make ANYTHING better.

If you actually read the Constitution you would know that all government spending bills must begin in the House.

[BelichickFan]

This is something I said last week that NEM quickly shot down (with nothing behind it). People complain about no jobs or bad jobs and most (not all) don't have the skills to work anywhere but the jobs they complain about.

[weswelker#83]

Originally Posted by BelichickFan

This is something I said last week that NEM quickly shot down (with nothing behind it). People complain about no jobs or bad jobs and most (not all) don't have the skills to work anywhere but the jobs they complain about.

I guess that outsourcing strategy ( to make more profit) didn't do good after all , what it did , is simply improve workers skill in other countries .

[BelichickFan]

Originally Posted by weswelker#83

I guess that outsourcing strategy ( to make more profit) didn't do good after all , what it did , is simply improve workers skill in other countries .

Did we read different articles ? The one I read wasn't about high skill levels in other countries but about :

"Stephenson said he is especially distressed that in some U.S. communities and among certain groups, the high school dropout rate is as high as 50 percent."

[FreeTedWilliams]

Originally Posted by BelichickFan

Did we read different articles ? The one I read wasn't about high skill levels in other countries but about :

"Stephenson said he is especially distressed that in some U.S. communities and among certain groups, the high school dropout rate is as high as 50 percent."

The High School drop out rate in Savannah is 50%, that is because they have refused to release the schools from county wide control, so any student who actually wants to learn goes to a private high school, so some of those statistics are misleading.

[Amazon4]

I have an (almost) 22 year old son living at home because he can't find a job (4 months now - got the axe 2 weeks before xmas). Not *anything* (McDonalds, Mall stores, local town stores, temp work, etc). Why is that? He has a high school diploma. Wants to work days so he can go to school nights. 99% of the places he applies to never even acknowledge his application.

He's had many jobs since high school. But it seems that companies are more worried about turning over help to keep the base pay low, than training and advancing their current workers. It's all about the bottom line. How do you get skilled workers when you lay them off after 6 months?

Just venting...I feel bad when I see a very capable young man pounding the pavement (literally) day after day trying to find work.

[BelichickFan]

Originally Posted by Amazon4

I have an (almost) 22 year old son living at home because he can't find a job (4 months now - got the axe 2 weeks before xmas). Not *anything* (McDonalds, Mall stores, local town stores, temp work, etc). Why is that? He has a high school diploma. Wants to work days so he can go to school nights. 99% of the places he applies to never even acknowledge his application.

I live in the middle of nowhere and those starter level jobs are certainly available here. I guess it depends where you live but from where I drive to there's jobs available to get your foot in the door.