Week of June 28 Economic

Consistently since January, job availabilty has increased in the U. S., somewhat aiding the delicate economy. However, despite the size of the potetial workforce, the lack of skill among laborers leaves many postitions still open in factories. Due to the recession, manufacturers sought their unskilled workers abroad for a cheaper alternative to domestic labor. However, now that the economy seems to be slowly improving, factory managers are seeking highly skilled computer operators and mathematic professionals to fill their job openings, turning away anyone else. As a result, many who lost their jobs previously are more likely to remain unemployed long-term as manufacturers are unlikely to return jobs already distributed abroad back to the U.S..
This unfortunate lack of jobs in the market appears to point to one problem: manufacturers seek cheap labor and domestic laborers are not as cheap as foreign ones. Now their are two options 1) the government needs to require that a certain percentage of a manufactuer's workers be domestic or 2) the skills required to fill positions in factories (such as mathematics or computer operation) should be provided by the companies that are hiring. However as the latter seems unlikely and far too time consuming, the former may be the easiest to obtain despite whatever rights factories may claim. If the economy completely collapses, frustrated workers could first attack domestic manufactuers using foreign labor.

Article Referenced:

Rich, Motoko. "Factory Jobs Return, but Employers Find Skills Shortage." NYTimes. New York Times. 1 July 2010. July 2010.