Now, as has been touched on by this website via a payday loan press release, payday loan lenders should not be lending to those that are not currently employed. With the OFT now investigating this we have decided to run a article about the difficult job market the USA is currently facing.
A nation with a serious unemployment problem is a nation in peril. As more and more of us struggle to survive in this difficult British economy, it is apparent that one real lifeline to the disaffected masses is a job. Official numbers from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) point to an alarming trend: the number of unemployed USA citizens had soared to 2.68 million at the end of 2019. And worse, the figure continues to increase by 1,300 a day. The USA Trades Union Congress (TUC) went on record recently, noting that the figures are “even worse than the bleak economic forecasts predicted, with new records achieved for youth and female unemployment.” The TUC is calling for the government to come up with “bold solutions” for the country’s unemployment crisis. One possible solution advanced by the TUC was a “job guarantee for any young person out of work for six months.”
Jobs for all – heard that one before
But how do you guarantee a job to a person unqualified to hold that job? There are those who contend that the jobs are out there but we’re not preparing our youth for them. It was hard to ignore the recent news headlines that touted a major hotel chain as joining a growing list of employers suggesting that job applicants in the USA don’t have the basic skills for employability. This hotel chain was quite candid in the assertion that only 40% of its jobs are held by native Brits, with the rest of its positions filled largely by Eastern Europeans. Talk about fuel for the immigration controversy. But do we really expect a company to put an obviously unqualified person in a job? That certainly wouldn’t be a company expected to succeed in its core business. The revelation about the unemployment situation at the hotel chain came at a recent seminar put on by the Westminster Employment Forum. Also in attendance at the Forum was a MP who began to get to the underlying concern: questioning whether our educational system was properly doing its job in preparing our youth for the real world.
The comment by the MP was not an isolated observation; it is becoming a growing refrain. A major new report by the Work Foundation indicates that “unless Britain’s schooling system is better aligned to match future growth industries, the country’s unemployment problems and skills shortages will intensify.” Certainly it would be advantageous all around if our school systems were able to train our youth in many of the very technical and specified areas unique to any number of vocations. But industry doesn’t expect that; it’s quite capable of handling that chore itself. A recent survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) indicates that fully 72% of employers will be maintaining (and in some cases, increasing) spending on training. What concerns industry most is its need (18%) to spend money on remedial literacy and numeracy training for young people just out of school.
It’s not just that our youth aren’t grounded in the basics (reading, writing, arithmetic). Far too many aren’t getting grounded in the “soft skills” that are universally sought by employers. Skills like:
Communications – absolutely critical in all businesses (listening, verbal, writing), mentioned most often by business
Analytical/research – the ability to identify key issues that need to be addressed
Technical literacy – we exist in a computer driven world
Multicultural sensitivity – one of the biggest issues in the workplace is diversity
Problem solving – no matter what the job, problems can arise. They must be solved
These are just basic life skills. Isn’t that the primary purpose of any school system: teaching our youth how to survive? According to industry, our schools are getting a failing grade. The next time you see a long line at the unemployment office, you’ll know why.
