Amit

Level 1 shortage There are few people who have the essential technical skills who are not already using them and there is a long training time to develop the skills.

Level 2 shortage There are few people who have the essential technical skills who are not already using them but there is a short training time to develop the skills.

Skills mismatch There are sufficient people who have the essential technical skills who are not already using them, but they are not willing to apply for the vacancies under current conditions.

Quality gap There are sufficient people with the essential technical skills who are not already using them and who are willing to apply for the vacancies, but they lack some qualities that employers consider are important.

Some people speak about shortages as though they represent some absolute, readily identifiable lack of desirable services. Price is rarely accorded its proper importance in their discussion.

If you start raising wages and improving working conditions, and continue doing so, you’ll solve your shortage and will have people lining up around the block to work for you even if you need to have huge piles of steaming manure hand-scooped on a blazing summer afternoon.

And if you think there’s going to be a shortage caused by employees retiring out of the workforce: Guess again: With the majority of retirement accounts down about 50% or more, most people entering retirement age are working well into their sunset years. So, you won’t be getting a worker shortage anytime soon due to retirees exiting the workforce.

Some specialized jobs require training and/or certification, again, the solution is higher wages and improved benefits. People will self-fund their re-education so that they can enter the industry in a work-ready state. The attractive wages, working conditions and career prospects of technology during the 1980’s and 1990’s was a prime example of people’s willingness to self-fund their own career re-education.

There is never enough of any good or service to satisfy all wants or desires. A buyer, or employer, must give up something to get something. They must pay the market price and forego whatever else he could have for the same price. The forces of supply and demand determine these prices — and the price of a skilled workman is no exception. The buyer can take it or leave it. However, those who choose to leave it (because of lack of funds or personal preference) must not cry shortage. The good is available at the market price. All goods and services are scarce, but scarcity and shortages are by no means synonymous. Scarcity is a regrettable and unavoidable fact.

Shortages are purely a function of price. The only way in which a shortage has existed, or ever will exist, is in cases where the “going price” has been held below the market-clearing price.

I agree that in hard times it makes sense to be less picky about the job profile, etc when there aren’t many jobs available. So there is no harm in making some compromises to weather out the storm.

If I understood your second statement correctly, you are saying that people have specific expertise and therefore are limited to jobs which use that expertise. While I understand where you are coming from, I also think that 1) There are certain skills that can be used in many types of jobs 2) I like message behind the quote ‘Hire for attitude – train for skills’. So people can get technical skills through education and training (on and off the job) and (up to a certain point) I don’t think this should deter companies or individuals from broadending their prospects.

Amit

Amit