A good way to get many unemployed IT workers back to work.

The way is this: many of the systems they used to work with have advanced in sequence and the people that were laid off or RIF'D a year ago or more - are way behind the current levels being used. For example in Peoplesoft:
If you were laid off a year ago or more you would just have experience in say, the "7.5" level - but in that crucial year you were off - the industry has progressed along and they are now in the "8" series and wouldn't think of hiring a "7.5" person. (Even though I understand there is not all that great amount of difference between them - the HR people are very strict in their specs.)
If the employers could be given a tax credit to encourage them to hire these "7.5" people and allow them to work for them while they picked up the new or current levels being used - then all would benefit and the skills of the unemployed - esp the long term -which are long term only because they lack the latest skill level information - would be brought up to the current levels in the industry. I hope I made myself clear.

He doesn't care about workers, only about his cronies.

Reading the book "Made in Texas" by Lind really helped me understand why he does the things he does. He's from the Southern Plantation mentality where labor is to be kept cheap (if not free) and production is commodities, not manufactured goods.

He thinks we should be a third-world country! Where he and his friends own everything and we're lucky to get enough wages from them to buy food to eat.

and he was laid off from the state (Illinois-ironically enough he worked for Illinois State Board of Education...budget cuts) in July. Since he is collecting unemployment he is looking into unemployment paying for his upgrade in certifications. In lieu of job training you can upgrade your certifications and they will cover the costs. Obviously I am being vague because I don't know very much about it but it is worth a call to your unemployment office.

Some business software products like Peoplesoft (get a load of this) require that you are currently working for a Peoplesoft client before you can get training.!! I heard that even IF you were able to get it without being employed it would be virtually worthless without the employment component. They get you one way and then the other!

you need a job before you can get a job? That helps get people back to work! Luckily he hasn't come across a situation like that YET. There isn't much out there and what he has come across doesn't pay squat or the benefits really suck.

Corporations would loose big time with this proposal. The idea would have merit if you had an internally supplied labor market. But that is history and a figment of our collective imaginations.

From an earlier post today.
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Hi All,

Stephen Roach explains a puzzling economic question in his latest report
linked below.

How has the US economy shown productivity growth while creating so few
jobs?

As Roach explains in his Morgan Stanley report, outsourced American jobs
make remaining American workers look more productive because the
outsourced overseas labor is not counted as a labor input into American
corporations.

Per Roach, the US economy would have created millions of new jobs by
this point in a typical recovery. However, by utilizing overseas labor,
corporations save money and look profitable while preventing domestic
job creation and stifling economic recovery with lost domestic wages.

In essence, the corporations have the best of both worlds, increased
profits and growth while American workers are idled, bereft of income.

For those that have forgotten, Bush supports the loss of good American
jobs overseas.

Enjoy
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http://www.morganstanley.com/GEFdata/digests/20031017-fri.html#anchor0

Global: Imported Productivity

Stephen Roach (New York)

America’s fabled productivity miracle continues to be a key underpinning
for much that is special about the US economy. With productivity in the
nonfarm business sector up an astonishing 6.8% sequentially (annual
rate) in 2Q03 and 4.1% on a year-over-year basis, it’s hard to deny that
something quite extraordinary is going on. As I see it, what’s special
is an increasingly powerful global labor arbitrage between domestic and
foreign labor input that has given rise to a surge in offshore
outsourcing. The result is a jobless recovery built on an increasingly
tenuous foundation of “imported productivity.” The real issue is whether
this new strain of productivity enhancement is sustainable. I have my
doubts.

On the surface, there’s no denying the unique character of this
productivity-led recovery. In the first six quarters after the US
economy officially bottomed in 4Q01, nonfarm business productivity has
recorded a 6.7% cumulative increase. That’s the fastest six-quarter
post-recession rebound since that which occurred after the recession
ending in 4Q70. Equally impressive, however, is the extraordinary
shortfall in job creation that has occurred since the end of the last
recession in November 2001. Private nonfarm payrolls have contracted
about 1% (or 1.1 million workers) in the ensuing 22 months since that
cyclical trough. That stands in sharp contrast to gains of about 5%
recorded, on average, over comparable periods of the preceding six
business cycle upturns. In fact, had the current cycle conformed to the
prior-cycle norm, today’s job count would be fully 4.3 million workers
higher.

This same cyclical comparison allows us to calculate some hypothetical
productivity scenarios on the basis of alternative employment paths for
the US economy. If, for example, private nonfarm payrolls had traced the
path suggested by the earlier six-cycle norm, our calculations suggest
that productivity would have risen only 2.0% over the six quarters
ending 2Q03 -- less than one-third the pace actually recorded.
Alternatively, if hiring had closed only half the gap between the
current cycle and the six-quarter norm, our calculations would place the
productivity increase at 4.3% over the six quarters ending 2Q03 --
slightly more than one-third slower than published figures currently
indicate.

Snip ......

A once lucrative occupation which has just about disappeared.