Needed, saleable skills seem to be in short supply among young people

The battle continues on whether or not it’s safe for schools to reopen. Teachers seem to be afraid of the virus, and parents want their kids in school, even if it’s just to get them out of the house. Some schools are using a hybrid model of some in-class instruction and remote learning. Others are fully open, while some are still in lockdown.

The goal seems to be to get everything back to pre-Covid days, and everyone will be happy. However, our public education system, once the envy of the world, had serious problems before Covid came to town.

We graduate many kids who can’t make change from a dollar. They can’t speak and write the only language they know correctly and have difficulty expressing themselves in ways others can understand. How often do you have to call someone and ask them what they were trying to say in that email?

Yes, some graduate with real skills and get good jobs, but far too many aren’t qualified to do much more than flip burgers. Fast-food chains are experimenting with automation. Your favorite burger chain may need far fewer people in the not-too-distant future, which means many of those low-skill jobs will simply disappear.

Discussing this with a friend, he said, “Well, they can always go into the trades.”

“Really? If they can’t make change from a dollar, they have no math skills. An electrician without math skills is going to kill himself or somebody else. Who would want a carpenter without math skills? Take a dimension like 7-13/16. Make it a radius if you want to add a little excitement. Or maybe a plumber. Piping must be precise, and they often have to apply a slight grade to let gravity do the pumping for them.

The long and the short of it is that it’s incredibly difficult to make a good living without skills that employers and customers are willing to buy. The more sophisticated the skills, the more we’re willing to pay for them.

Automation has been taking jobs away for decades. Can you imagine what your car would cost if its manufacturing process wasn’t highly automated? So there are benefits despite the loss of jobs, but how will all the unemployed people earn livings?

Henry Ford was the first car manufacturer to pay his workers $5 a day.

He was soundly criticized for paying what were considered exorbitant wages back then. He explained paying so much would enable him to hire the best people, and he wanted them to make enough money so they could afford to buy his cars.

He understood the importance of creating and enabling customers. Too many companies are doing the opposite today. In their quests to get rid of as many people as possible, they’re collectively destroying their markets.

Explaining this to Boeing managers during a layoff years ago, their response was, “Don’t worry, Ron. The people we’re laying off don’t buy 747s.”

“No, but they buy airline tickets.” Regardless of what we make or what services we provide, we need customers with the willingness and the money to buy them. The willingness comes easily. People watch TV and see gorgeous houses, fancy cars, boats and all kinds of other toys they’d like to have. Coming up with the money is far more difficult, nearly impossible without saleable skills.

If the kids aren’t learning these skills in school, where will they get them?

We need to stop comparing our schools between towns and cities. When people in Nashua lose their jobs, it’s probably not to people in Manchester or Bedford. It’s usually to China, Japan, Korea, Germany, etc. How do our schools compare with schools in those countries? Having been to many of them and having seen the results in their people firsthand, I can tell you we have a lot of catching up to do.

Ronald J. Bourque, a consultant and speaker from Salem, has had engagements throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. He can be reached at 603-898-1871 or RonBourque3@gmail.com.