The Motley Fool Discussion Boards  Previous Page  Retirement
Discussions / Retire Early Liberal Edition   Subject:  Re: The
Coming Twilight Of The Four-Year College Date:  12/15/2012 
11:44 PM Author:  PolymerMom Number:  46824 of 55645  The skills
gap mention in the article is real.  I'm not entirely convinced
that a skills gap exists, at least to the extent that everyone
bemoans. It's a multi-dimensional problem, including employer
expectations vs. the labor pool requirements.  I can't find the
article, but the NY Times published a piece a few months ago
about small businesses not being able to find qualified
applicants. One owner said he'd love to hire 5 or 10 experienced
machinists. When asked what he was paying, he responded that he
was willing to pay $10/hour. Sure, a guy trying to support a
family is going to take that job, when they could get a job at
McDonald's as a manager that pays $14/hour.  For recent college
graduates, another issue surfaces.   For others, there's a
computerized application scre