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> ramping up education investment is pretty minimal in its returns. Creating real neighborhood community (work, education, family, etc) is the best solution I'
by klank 10y ago
> ramping up education investment is pretty minimal in its returns. Creating real neighborhood community (work, education, family, etc) is the best solution
I'm confused about your stance on education. At first blush you seem to be diminishing it's impact while promoting it. Care to elaborate?
- eitland 10y agoIf by education GP means higher education then I can possibly add something: IIRC there already seems to be a shortage of craftsmen (carpenters, welders, plumbers etc) and a surplus of people with various higher educations.
- endzone 10y agoa shortage that's not reflected in the wages for skilled jobs (outside of powerful unions)
- petra 10y agoI know that in Israel there's shortage in those professions, but the pay isn't good. So maybe it's more complex that simple supply vs demand ?
- endzone 10y agoi can't think of any reason why basic economic principles wouldn't apply.
- petra 10y agoSay you have a small factory ,employing 50 older welders doing a risky job at relatively little pay. Say you need 10 more welders - but those guys really don't like risk so they would need a big increase in the salary, maybe 50%-100%. But you know that than the word will get out and the older workers will demand similar salaries. So it's a big jump in total labor-costs per work-unit. And let's not forget - revenue per employee can be quite limited in many places. So maybe paying low is the better state for the business.
- cortesoft 10y agoBut demand doesn't come from a single factory... Why isn't another factory poaching those older workers for more pay?
- eitland 10y agoIn some places it has been. Man I sometimes wished I had a valid mechanicans or electricians certification during the oil boom here ;-)
- endzone 10y agoand now you wouldn't have a job. in the uk, the plumbers/electricians are lucky to make £20/hr.
- TheOtherHobbes 10y agoIn the UK, plumbers and electricians can make more than developers do. It depends where they work - London and the SE pay a lot better than the run down cities in the North - and how good their network is. I used to know someone with a well-paid City job who retrained as a plumber. He earns almost as much as he did and is considerably less stressed. The only downside is occasional snobbery.
- dozzie 10y agoQuite the contrary. Welders, carpenters, or heavy equipment operators in my country enjoy a decent pay, yet there is a shortage. For some weird reasons those who studied so sought-after political studies or literature can't be bothered with a job that consists of physical work and doesn't require a degree.
- burkaman 10y agoI think the idea is rather than just pouring money directly into schools, focusing on creating communities and resources so that students can actually take advantage of what's available. Buying new textbooks and facilities doesn't help when half the students don't have enough to eat, don't have role models and tutors, don't have anyone telling them that education is important.
- redthrow 10y agoWhy Education Does Not Fix Poverty http://www.demos.org/blog/12/2/15/why-education-does-not-fix-poverty http://www.demos.org/blog/12/2/15/why-education-does-not-fix...
- saalweachter 10y agoThe risk of pushing "education" is that it's either duplicitous -- a well-rounded liberal arts education is a good thing, but doesn't guarantee the mythical "job" -- or just cost-shifting to potential workers: a lot of companies would prefer that a large number of potential workers pay for their own education as welders, machinists, and air conditioner repairmen, increasing their labor pool, driving down their own wages, and taking on the risk (of whether there is a need for their labor) themselves. Education should be for the sake of learning; companies should be willing to train laborers, from machinists to drivers to software engineers.