Worker Skills And Job Requirements Is There A Mismatch?

by Michael J. Handel

There is a widespread belief that U.S. workers’ education and skills are not adequate for the demands of jobs in the modern economy, resulting in a mismatch between the skills workers possess and the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932066160
• ISBN13: 9781932066166
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: Economic Policy Institute
• Length: 115 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.3" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book on a misunderstood issue

This book gives an excellent overview on the so-called "skills gap" that purportedly plagues the US economy. The basic premise is that most of our economic problems, especially poverty and unemployment, can be attributed to a "skills bias" found in our post-industrial economy. Hence, we are supposed to believe that the way out of poverty, and hence the way to job security and unlimited economic growth and opportunity, is a highly educated workforce. In this book, Handel dismisses the skills gap in a highly systematic fashion. He raises more questions than gives answers, however. For the most part, the skills gap is a highly inflated problem. Writing Handel about his research, he agrees with me that the skills gap has become a powerful tool in shifting policy debates away from the real structural factors that cause poverty, unemployment, and declining economic competitiveness. My biggest criticism of this book is that it does not make enough use of economic data in its arguments. Using economic data, like the high unemployment rates for college degree holders, and the decline of the IT jobs due to job outsourcing, would be highly illuminating and helpful in proving his thesis. However, Handel does mention the oversupply of college graduates, as evidenced by the shrinking differential between college and high school wages. One powerful argument given by the author is that if there is a skills gap and if our education systems are failing us, then why did welfare mothers enjoy such keen employment prospects following the 1996 Welfare Reform Act? If there were a skills bias, one would expect that these women would have a tough time finding a job. However, employer surveys do not report much dissatisfaction with the skill levels found in Welfare-to-Work participants. Likewise, worker attitudes show up as a more common complaint than do skills deficiencies. Handel attibutes the poor attitudes of workers to their poor wages, lack of promotional opportunities, and levels of insecurity found on the job. Pay your workers well and they will work hard, in other words. Handel does a lot of justice to the education crisis debate in this book. He concludes that the current policy debates about the poor state of education in America are highly overstated, and that if anything Americans are too highly educated for what jobs require. Besides the mountain of emperical and statistical data, Handel employs a common sense arguement: given the much higher education credentials of the current generation, it is difficult to believe that the baby boomers have higher basic skills levels than the current generation. And indeed, literacy tests show that older people are not more proficient readers than those who were educated in the 1980s and 1990s. Much of the "education crisis" is indeed propaganda used to rally the public against the education system. Anyway, there are many good arguments in this book; I do not want to spoil it. The book is easy to read in one sitt