Author Topic: $75,000 a year with benefits; no college needed. Yet local employers can’t fill jobs  (Read 1645 times)

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Online DCPatriot

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$75,000 a year with benefits; no college needed. Yet local employers can’t fill jobs

By Dylan Jackson

video at link

Miami is a city with an ever changing skyline. And those who make it happen — the plumbers, electricians, brick masons and carpenters — earn far above the local median: $55,000-75,000 a year with full benefits and a pension.

But as the economy barrels toward full employment, local contractors are struggling to find enough skilled workers to fuel the construction boom.

“We’re seeing it across the board. There are shortages in every trade,” said Peter Dyga, president of the South Florida-based Florida East Coast Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, a non-profit trade organization comprised of several construction firms and contractors.

continued at:     http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article215100165.html
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Offline mountaineer

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I'm in the middle of the big natural gas field (upper Ohio Valley area), and jobs are going unfilled because they're having a heck of a time finding literate people who can pass a drug test.
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High schools don't even teach this as a career choice.  Stupid...when you can earn more than somebody with a worthless 4 year degree.
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell


High schools don't even teach this as a career choice.  Stupid...when you can earn more than somebody with a worthless 4 year degree.

And not a dollar of student loan debt.
I am just a Technicolor Dream Cat riding this kaleidoscope of life.

Offline Frank Cannon

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And not a dollar of student loan debt.

You say that but I was talking to a dude yesterday that told me the going rate for a basic CDL is about $6K. That's highway robbery just to do speed and speed down the highway.

Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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I'm in the middle of the big natural gas field (upper Ohio Valley area), and jobs are going unfilled because they're having a heck of a time finding literate people who can pass a drug test.
I wish welfare requirements had the same criteria.
Our debt problems go away.
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Online cato potatoe

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Gotta dig a little deeper to get the answer.  South Florida is can be OK for a vacation, but living there is impractical.  Your personal life will be lacking in most respects.  $55-75k puts you in a ghetto apartment ... unless your wife has a well-paying white collar job.  Good luck finding that combination. happy77  The manual work is hotter than hell, potentially dangerous, and you probably have to speak Spanish.

Online Wingnut

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Gotta dig a little deeper to get the answer.  South Florida is can be OK for a vacation, but living there is impractical.  Your personal life will be lacking in most respects.  $55-75k puts you in a ghetto apartment ... unless your wife has a well-paying white collar job.  Good luck finding that combination. happy77  The manual work is hotter than hell, potentially dangerous, and you probably have to speak Spanish.

Yeah.  It is amazing we got anything built in America with that kind of thinking.
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Online cato potatoe

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We got plenty built in the good ol days.  Back when labor unions dominated, and the voters demanded a welfare state to pay for things employers would not.

You have to acknowledge both sides of the market.  Absent Japanese-style age demography, an established employer would have little trouble finding qualified labor if they offered market compensation.  Skilled labor is more expensive in Miami, because it's an expensive shithole and less attractive for skilled laborers.

Online DCPatriot

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We got plenty built in the good ol days.  Back when labor unions dominated, and the voters demanded a welfare state to pay for things employers would not.

You have to acknowledge both sides of the market.  Absent Japanese-style age demography, an established employer would have little trouble finding qualified labor if they offered market compensation.  Skilled labor is more expensive in Miami, because it's an expensive shithole and less attractive for skilled laborers.

Like somebody said prior...most of the SKILLED workmen in pipefitting, HVAC and carpentry (less so) are white Anglos.

I remember one electrical sub-contractor..."Whitey"...who was 150lb 6ft tall with snow white hair...and a lot of it.

He was twice the price of everybody else, and I would have paid triple.

Always did it right the first time.  I'm sure he would have made it in South Fla.   :laugh:
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Offline TomSea

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It's pretty amazing too, you wouldn't believe that some "rural areas" are offering big pay packages just for being school bus drivers. Check out Rochester Minnesota where the Mayo Clinic is.  They are having problems even finding qualified bus drivers.