Posted on 12/10/2006 10:56:33 AM PST by A. Pole
Massachusetts' workforce is shrinking at an alarming rate, as thousands of low-skilled men drop out of the labor force because they cannot find jobs or are too discouraged to keep looking, according to a new report.
The report, released today by the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, warns that as the state expands rapidly in high-tech and life sciences industries, a significant segment of its population is being left behind.
Between 2003 and 2005, Massachusetts was the only state to lose workers for three consecutive years, according to the report. During that period, the nation's workforce grew 3.1 percent, while the state's declined by 1.7 percent.
Early indications suggest that 2006 might be Massachusetts' fourth straight year of decline. The last time the state experienced such a prolonged drop was during World War II, when men were called to fight.
The study blames the workforce decline in part on the widely discussed exodus of college-educated young people who are leaving the state because they cannot afford housing here. But it highlighted a less explored trend: Health, retail, and service jobs, which are traditionally filled by women, are growing, while factory and manual labor jobs are disappearing, leaving lower-skilled men with few options.
[...]
"There are no entry-level jobs anymore," he said. "Just McDonald's."
Sum said that as more men drop out of the workforce, more end up relying on welfare and disability payments, or fall into drugs and crime.
"You pay a very high fiscal and social cost," Sum said. "When you can't employ your young men without high school diplomas, they've got to be paid for."
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Not everybody has aptitude to go to college or even to acquire good trade. People of modest skills should be able to survive by honest work - if market cannot secure it, the national policy should take care of it.
Sounds like a plan. The Bay State can try to tax its companies into oblivion, and Uncle Sam (read, the rest of us) can subsidize the companies so they can't get there.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but we do pay for people to get their HS diplomas. It isn't anyone's fault but theirs if that is too much for 'em. Of course, the solution is cheap labor from Mexico--and lots of it, right?
Many people do not aptitude to finish even high school - for example about 20% have IQ below 85. So should they be on welfare or in prison?
the solution is cheap labor from Mexico
Yeah, right.
"Many people do not aptitude to finish even high school - for example about 20% have IQ below 85. So should they be on welfare or in prison?"
Of course the problem isn't a broken educational system or a government that penalizes businesses.
Lberal government = illegal immigration tolerance (no room in the ER), gay marriage advocacy along with removing the power to vote on such issues from the people, combined with socialism in health care and plummeting property values, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry as figureheads, soaring energy costs and a dependent relationship with the likes of Chavez. Now, is it any wonder Massachusetts is the laughing stock of the rest of the country, and those lucky enough to sell are moving out? Add to that a lack of simple manners in public, and visitors tend to get the impression people here are just not nice.
Yeah, we need Mitt Romney, who governs this mess, as our next president. :D
Like San Francisco, Massachussetts is extremely very unfriendly, if not outwardly hateful, toward straight white guys and young families. The democrat party has no place for either.
Once upon a time a lot of these people would have joined the Army. That door should still be open, albeit maybe for a different wage. It would solve quite a few problems.
The Governor of MA is only a figurehead, so it doesn't matter if he/she is a Republican, it's just a springboard to some notoriety. What Mitt did that was any good at all will be wiped out by the socialist Patrick. The legislature is virtually all Dems, and hence in each others' pockets, responsible for the BIG DIG fiasco, Fidelity and other Boston stalwart businesses looking for new out of state locales, and offering no reason for new business to move in. Absolutely none. The service industry that used to offer our young people entry level jobs is overrun by people who can't and won't speak English, and most are illegal. Smart people are moving, and the residents will reap what they've sown. A huge loss in property equity, poor health care from uninspired physicians and educators that don't believe in the MCAS system of accountability.
Do you mean if a soldier can't get into a tech field but is in a combat arm they should be paid less? How very elitist Eastern establishement Republican and Democrat you are.
I am not certain why the Glob(e) added the extra letters "inishing" to the headline. The headling works without those letters. I hate to interview people applying for jobs here. All too many of them have high self-esteem--and low abilities.
Perhaps the jobs for entry level workers are going to undocumented workers without a high school diploma.
A Globe analysis of nine recent public works projects -- from dormitory construction at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth to the building of the new Middlesex County Jail -- revealed that of 242 workers on weekly payroll lists, more than a third appeared to lack legitimate Social Security numbers. On one of the payrolls reviewed, for masonry work on the UMass dormitory project, nearly two-thirds of the contractor's 87 workers had bogus or questionable Social Security numbers.
and
All Things Considered, December 13, 2005 · A recent raid on illegal immigrants working at a fish-processing plant prompted hundreds of other undocumented workers to flee their jobs in New Bedford, Mass. The case spotlights how much some U.S. industries have come to rely on illegal immigrant labor.
There is more, if you care to look.
Young people who cannot afford a car payment and car insurance, surely cannot afford a mandated health insurance plan.
Competing with low wage, undocumented workers doesn't improve their prospects.
"Competing with low wage, undocumented workers doesn't improve their prospects."
No it doesn't. Some of the construction jobs you mentioned, now being done by illegal immagrants, as well as landscaping, are being taken from the seasoned work force! Not just entry level out of high school crowd.
My point is jobs and pay are only PART of the reason folks are fleeing MA.
Mass. Governor is one of the weakest in the nation. It has no real power like being Governor of Texas. All the power is in the legislature.
One reason why these people can't get into the military now is because they will be a huge problem to manage, train, and clean-up after. If you start letting them back in, they will cost more per capita than a more educated soldier. Unless you want your taxes to go up to pay for it, that $$ has to come from somewhere. In fact, it may not be worth it.
That being said, once they go over the hump, no doubt many would make effective soliders. So maybe pay 'em less at the onset, and mainstream them once they've proved themselves. Another way to do it is to give the more educated folks a signing bonus.
I am not an elitist--just a realist. There have always been disparities in military pay. Some career fields get bonuses, others don't. Some soldiers come in at a higher rank due to their education level-others start at the bottom. This is nothing new.
Training for foreign immigrants, who have helped sustain the state's population and its labor force, is key, especially for those who arrive and speak little or no English, Sum said.
Brennan said Pioneer Valley leaders are already beginning to understand that "immigration is our principle source of any growth whatsoever," so immigrants are viewed "not as a drag on the region, but as a growth factor."
He also pointed to the high numbers of Latinos from Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, living in the region.
"They are a source of youth and growth, more especially so in the urban core cities like Springfield and Holyoke," Brennan said. "Those regions and states that figure out best how to take entry-level workers, particularly entry-level immigrant workers, and get them into the work force as bona-fide productive workers, will succeed."
I am puzzled, the same labors studies department of Northeastern U. has published at least one study showing how job opportunities for teenagers have diminished as immigration exploded; the same study reported that as millions of "recent" immigrants took W-2 jobs the numbers of unemployed citizens and established immigrants grew by a million or two. Go figure.
I hate it when these MSM employee clowns don't link to studies. This is 114 pages one source said.
"The study blames the workforce decline in part on the widely discussed exodus of college-educated young people who are leaving the state because they cannot afford housing here."
The only reason I know of that the many people I knew who left the state did so because of the lack of a job. The cost of housing is a secondary consideration if one is not employed. The state has lost almost a quarter of a million residents over the last five years and the Massachusetts' unemployment rate is higher than the national rate. What does that tell you?
The voters have a short memory. Wait until Deval Patrick begins viewing Massachusetts' business community as a source of revenue to be distributed to the growing cadre of dependents. Dukakis did the same and it took years to recover from the downturn.
It is amusing to read the theories why Massachusetts has received a declining share of federal research funds since 2000. I never see mentioned that our Senators and congressional delagation have been a continuous insult to the Administration from the start. Gee, why would that make a difference?
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