Unemployed and Unemployable

            It’s awfully difficult to make sense of some numbers. How, for instance, can the official unemployment rate be 4.7%, which indicates the country is close to full employment, when the labor participation rate is under 63%, the lowest in 40 years? The answer is that millions of people of working age have stopped looking for work. But then the Wall Street Journal reports that 44% of small businesses can’t find qualified applicants for job openings.

            Two possible explanations: 1) people who have stopped looking for a job don’t live where companies have job openings, and 2) too many would-be applicants lack even the most rudimentary skills to fill those jobs.

            Some have suggested that people who live in depressed areas that have no jobs and little hope of attracting new businesses should move. But that’s hardly a solution for people who have deep roots in their communities or lack the resources to relocate.

            Government job retraining programs, many overlapping and redundant, have not proven to be effective and are bound to be slashed by an Administration looking to cut costs. On-the-job training by companies is growing, but it is too often a costly and desperate solution, and inadequate for the huge numbers of potential workers with little or no skills.

            The focus, it seems to me, must be on education. The highest percentage of unemployed is among 16 to 24-year-olds. Too many of them never graduated high school. Even many who did were never taught the skills needed to enter the workplace. Some can’t even fill out an application properly. Test scores of American kids in Math, Science, and English, compared to those in other developed countries, is a national scandal.

            Let’s face it. The worst-performing schools are in urban areas with a high concentration of minority students. Yet, organizations like the NAACP and ultra-liberal mayors like New York’s Bill de Blasio oppose proven solutions like school choice, charter schools, and vouchers. Meanwhile, teacher unions will do anything to protect their public-school turf, even in the face of catastrophic results.

            My hope is that Betsy DeVos, upon confirmation as Secretary of Education, will be able to shake up the education establishment, in spite of obdurate opposition from union-funded Democrats and some misguided Republicans.