whiteneck -skill stripper... in over drive ?

" The advantages of a college degree
                          are being erased " 

"If a degree holder loses a job
 that worker is now more likely 
than a high school dropout
 to be chronically unemployed."



================================================

LA TIMES MARCH 10 2005:


 " Long-term unemployment,
 defined as joblessness 
for six months or more,
 is at record rates.


But there's an additional twist:
 An unusually large share
 of those chronically out of work 
are   college graduates.

The increasing inability
 of educated workers
 to quickly return
 to the workforce 
reflects dramatic shifts 
in the economy

 Even as overall hiring 
is picking up
 and economic growth remains strong
 industries are transforming 
at a rapid pace 
as they adjust 
to intense competition
 technological change 
and other pressures. 

That means skilled jobs 
can quickly become obsolete
 while others are outsourced

 Educated workers 
are increasingly subject 
to the job insecurities 
and disruptions 
usually plaguing blue-collar laborers

-----------------------------------------------

 The advantages of a college degree
 "are being erased," 

Even with better-than-expected job growth
 373,000 people 
with college degrees 
quit job hunting 
and dropped out
 of the labor force 
last month

The number of long-term unemployed
 who are college graduates
 has nearly tripled
 since the bursting 
of the tech bubble in 2000

Nearly 1 in 5 
of the long-term jobless 
are college graduates

 If a degree holder loses a job
 that worker is now more likely 
than a high school dropout
 to be chronically unemployed.

 

Since the 2001 recession,
about one-fifth of the unemployed 
have been out of work 
for more than six months
 — and that proportion 
has steadily crept up
 even as the unemployment rate
 has fallen. 



Even with the national unemployment rate
 at a relatively low 5.4%,
 the share of those out of work 
for more than six months 
is higher now than during the early 1980s,
 when the jobless rate
 was in the double digits,

 The average length of unemployment
 is also higher now 
than at any time 
other than the early 1980s.


 the number of college graduates 
has steadily risen over 
the decades. 

 

Tech workers, 
in particular, 
are victims of their successes 
during the 1990s,
 when many high-tech companies
 went on hiring binges
and wages soared. 

"The high tech outfits
 basically stockpiled workers
now they've
 gotten rid of their overstock."

Higher pay commanded by college graduates
 also is a factor.
 Wage differentials
 between 
those with and without college degrees
 are at record highs. 

Those relatively well-paid professionals
 may take longer
 to find work 
because they are more reluctant 
to accept lower-paying work
 — although many ultimately do.

Educated professionals also have assets,
 such as stocks and homes,
 that can help tide them over. 
But digging into those assets 
can be painful, 
 

The problems of long-term unemployment
 are even more pronounced 
for older workers, 
for whom retirement issues loom large.
 The number of long-term unemployed 
who were 45 or older 
doubled from 2000 to 2003. 
That comes as studies show 
that the elderly 
are having to work longer 
and put off retirement.

older workers often face age discrimination 
but may also face
 a tougher time
 adjusting to the increasingly shifting skills
 needed in the workplace.

"There are more and more specialists,
 And if there are more and more specialists 
in an information economy, 
you get people whose skills aren't 
as portable as they used to be."

 "employers have  become pickier
 about what skills they want "

"When there's a lot of people 
out in the marketplace,
 companies can afford to say 
we want someone 
ruly with this experience,
 not someone who just says, 
'Well, I've taken 
a couple of classes in this area,' "

Getting retrained 
is also increasingly difficult.
 Job-training funds 
have been steadily cut
 over the decades. 

Fields that are booming,
 such as nursing,
 can require years of study 
that some jobless cannot afford.



It's getting tougher to keep pace 
with the changing job market
 the most recent recession in 2001, 
involved "structural" changes 
in industries 
rather than the usual
 ups and downs 
f the business cycle.

That means that certain jobs 
may never be replaced. 

For example, jobs designing computer chips
 may vanish because of fundamental changes
 in chip design or production 
or because the industry 
has shipped the jobs overseas
 Or businesses' efforts to boost productivity
 may mean that computer programs 
shrink the number of loan officers
 needed to process applications
 at a bank.

 though the United States manufactures less,
 white-collar workers 
increasingly produce goods and services
 on Information Age assembly lines. 

"Instead of a room of auto workers,
you've got a room of insurance brokers."

Those white-collar assembly-line workers 
are the most vulnerable to changes
 in the globalized economy

 "These are the types of people 
who are going to have their jobs 
under the threat of outsourcing," 


"The market changes a lot faster now 
than it used to," 

==================================================================