Free Republic

New research released by Indeed, a popular job posting platform, shows that the number of postings requiring college degrees — or any education requirement at all — is dwindling. Indeed found 52 percent of postings on its site had no formal education requirement as of January 2024, up 4 percent from 2019. The number of postings requiring four-year degrees went from 20.4 percent to 17.8 percent in the past five years. “Employers are loosening their formal education requirements as the labor market remains tight and attitudes towards skills-first hiring practices change. Those same employers seem more willing to consider candidates...

New Russian tanks sent to Syria have been able to survive hits from US-made TOW missiles, although their anti-missile counter-measures have yet to be seen in combat. In a report on new weapons in the Syrian conflict, Robert Fisk noted tank-based anti-missile systems, as well as night vision and reconnaissance systems. Although new the tanks supplied to the Syrian army have the ability to deflect TOW-like missiles, their full implementation has yet to be seen. A video released by rebels showed the T-90 surviving a hit by a TOW missile, but an open hatch prevented the deployment of an aerosol...

Police officer who wounded toddler was cleaning gun 11:34 AM EST, February 9, 2008 NEW YORK(AP) _ A police officer who wounded a toddler when he accidentally fired a shot through the floor of his Brooklyn apartment was cleaning his gun in dim lighting because his electricity had been turned off, according to his brother. His brother told reporters Friday that the officer had set his gun down on a table, and then accidentally knocked it to the floor when he returned to the room. The gun discharged, firing a bullet that passed into the apartment below and hit 1-year-old...

For years, the vast majority of politicians in the main parties have avoided having honest public conversation about the extent and consequences of immigration. The fear of appearing racist, or giving any ground to the arguments of the far right, has left most MPs and commentators in Pollyanna territory - extolling the economic and cultural benefits of immigration and glossing over problems. That has done the nation no favours, because the consequences of rapid social change have been scarcely studied, let alone addressed. And it has increased many people's distrust of the political universe, as the gulf between their own...

...manufacturing employment now accounts for only one in nine jobs, down from one in three in 1950. But the decline mostly reflects higher efficiency. Americans make more things with fewer people. From 1990 to 2000, for example, manufacturing output rose 61 percent while employment fell 2 percent... ...Of late, however, the news about manufacturing has seemed particularly dismal. Since mid-2000, 3 million jobs have vanished... ...Since 1948, the UAW and GM, Ford and Chrysler have crafted contracts that turned the companies into mini-welfare states...Now comes the reckoning. The market and the welfare state collide. According to the UAW, Delphi is...