America lacks jobs because Americans are uneducated?  I read this all the time – sometimes more delicately phrased, sometimes more pointedly (as in an article I read yesterday).  I’ve read this for years.  Or is it decades?  And I always look for the specifics.  But I don’t find any.

It sounds like they’re just making excuses to me.  I’m open to changing my view when I see some facts and hear a cogent argument that can withstand critical analysis.  For the moment, I’m just having trouble convincing myself that there’s anything at work here beyond the cost of labor and the disinclination of industry to train workers on ANYTHING.

Furthermore, there are absurd “barriers to entry” that are keeping people from getting their first jobs.  Most of the people I know who are desperately trying to get their careers started are stymied immediately by the “x years of experience” requirement.  Okay, but what if they have the EDUCATIONAL credentials you say you can’t find?  Might that count for something?

Now, I’ll confess that I haven’t made the researching of this my life’s focus.  But I’m getting close to doing exactly that.   If there’s a problem, let’s discuss it.  What skills are you LOOKING for?  Huh?  Tell us and maybe we can do something about it.

But let’s stop pretending that the issue is skills when, in fact, the issue is cost.  The issue is too important and the stakes are too high to play PR when an entire generation of young workers is standing on the sidelines wishing they could get into the game.

Originally published on ProfAppleby.com