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IBM, maybe? I'm surprised to read these recent anecdotes (going back to that New Jersey unemployment COVID programmer shortage) from various people that COBOL
by setpatchaddress 6y ago
IBM, maybe?
I'm surprised to read these recent anecdotes (going back to that New Jersey unemployment COVID programmer shortage) from various people that COBOL jobs are in high demand yet shockingly underpaid. That would seem to imply markets don't actually work the way we've been told.
- AnimalMuppet 6y agoNo, this is the way a market normally works. You have a supply curve, and a demand curve. As you go lower in price, the demand curve rises, and the supply curve declines. So you have low price, high demand, and low supply. This is completely normal when the price is too low. The difference in this case is that the press is showing sympathy to those who won't pay the price and then complain about the missing supply. That doesn't happen in most markets. Why is the press listening? Because the people complaining are people that the press normally listens to - banks and big, big businesses. It seems that many such businesses would rather complain, publicly, than pay a market-clearing rate. Well, I don't have a lot of sympathy, to be honest...
- sgerenser 6y agoBanks and big businesses? Whenever I read articles about COBOL programmers needed, it’s always in regards to government positions. Which better explains why the pay is low, especially compared to big tech.
- 908B64B197 6y agoHigh demand but the pay is at the Government pay scale. The other way of reading the situation is: There's nobody interested in working in COBOL at the suggested rates.