Why is Japan so high and Spain so low?
You will find more statistics at Statista
As rapid globalization and technological change have shaped the world’s job market, skill shortages have become a growing problem for employers. The scale of the problem varies hugely between countries and it is most pronounced in Asia. According to an OECD report which used data from the Manpower Talent Shortage Survey, 81 percent of firms in Japan (with 10 or more employees) encounter difficulty finding qualified employees.
1st, you would have to believe the OECD data – I don’t. They are funded by governments and will produce what gov’ts want.
I’m not surprised Mexico is on the list ahead of the United States since all their people seem to be up here.
But maybe that depends somewhat on what skills are being considered.
We elevated the Japanese after WWII to become major manufacturers and electronics producers. Younger people have no concept that Japan was a complete joke prior to that. We are now elevating China and the Pacific rim to even greater heights. We have given India outsourced service jobs to the detriment of our own population.
So at the end of the day, our jobs and our wealth has gone across the great pond in what I believe to be a huge sacrifice. This sacrifice is taking a toll on our young people who blame older Americans who had absolutely no say in any of this situation.
If countries around the world have a problem filling the jobs available, that comes under (Not my problem). If there are more jobs than workers then by all means they should outsource those jobs back to our young people here in the US.
And what skills are said countries short on? Underwater basket weavers? Feral cat groomers? Nice graphic but it conveys no useful information.
Being a software developer, sometimes I get stuck doing support.
The skill that is short is “thinking / reading / communication / problem solving”. I find if something doesn’t work, the way the user expects – they just quit and say “I dunno. It just doesn’t work”.
I get support E-Mails that you would think were written by 7 year old’s. No punctuation, not a coherent thought, just some words. Some have no subject.
I make them read what it says in the Window, like Enter Ship To Code. Then they say “Do you mean the ship to code?” Then they say: “well I’m not sure where we want to send it.” Then I say “Well if you don’t know the ship-to – why are you trying to make a shipping manifest?” They are actually that fucking dumb.
Also error messages. I usually get an E-Mail that says “we got an error message.” I respond: “What did it say?” Their usual response is: “I dunno, I closed the window, and then I went home for the evening.”
We are fucked. These peoples minds are filled with sports, entertainment, and mostly a vacuum.
Don’t blame the older generation……. blame your government and the crony capitalists who conspired to bring you free trade agreements!
The is no “free” in free trade. You gave up your job to a third world country, so that a corporation could ship it’s goods and services tariff free across borders.
It is a win win for corporations – they don’t have to pay tariffs, and they get really cheap labor!!
So, – while your fighting at home for a $15 minimum wage, you have effectively out-priced yourself out of the world markets, due to labor competition.
I’M NOT advocating scrapping current free trade agreements, in hopes of “Making America Great Again”. It won’t happen……. Once that barn door opened……..the horses left the barn, and won’t be coming back.
Simply put…. were all screwed!!
“Younger people have no concept that Japan was a complete joke prior to that”
Japanese manufacturers were no joke. Their factories were destroyed and the cities where the industries had been were ruined, but there have been plenty of productive manufacturers in Japan since the Industrial Revolution.
Japanese manufacturers produced the military equipment they used to defeat the Korean, Chinese and Russian military forces before WWII. Japanese industry was never a “complete joke”.
@Dutchman, do you perchance work with US Customs applications, specifically the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)?
Probably not on anyone’s mind when considering Japan, but the Fukushima incident that continues to spew radiation into the Pacific and the burning of radioactive waste that is contaminating even Tokyo would keep me from going their for any price. And the earthquakes!
I have neighbors who took teaching jobs there for a year (2015), and they had no clue about what the dangers were w/regard to Fukushima. They still don’t, most likely since the recent laws passed there that prohibits negative reporting on TEPCO and the disaster.
“going there”, not “going their”.
Bea Lever says:
We elevated the Japanese after WWII to become major manufacturers and electronics producers. Younger people have no concept that Japan was a complete joke prior to that. We are now elevating China and the Pacific rim to even greater heights. We have given India outsourced service jobs to the detriment of our own population.
………………
No they made better stuff even before the war, mainly european designs they improved on eg land drover 4×4 v nissan patrol. We didnt elevate them either we just make too many things that cant compete even in our own protected domestic market, forget the rest of the world.
It isnt just outsource service jobs in call centres Indians are taking, its trades like mechanic, welder and professions like engineering and medical, starting on work visas.
Herschel – I am something of an expert in manufacturing., and have spent decades studying it, managing organisations large and small, and watching it change and develop. And you are dead wrong re when Japan became a powerhouse in manufacturing, and what you have said.
For instance, pre WW2, the US had twice Japan’s population, but 17 times its income, five times its steel production, five times its coal production, and EIGHTY times its auto production.
So peddle that bullshit somewhere else. You have zero idea what you are talking about. And I am being kind.
The seeds of Japan’s manufacturing prowess were planted by a guy named Deming in 1947. He is still revered in Japan. I will not bore you with the details, but he was a quality expert, and the Japs put his ideas to work with a mad frenzy, which combined with a rigid social structure proved immensely successful.
Further, and perhaps most importantly, the Japanese took advantage of the fact they did not have to defend themselves. Their outlay on defence was under 1% of GDP. This proved to be a MASSIVE advantage over every other nation.
By not having to pay for defence, they were able to funnel huge amounts into developing their mfg base. It gave them a several point GDP advantage over the US, and after about 3 decades of such advantage they became significant manufacturers.
Without that advantage, Japan would never have risen from the ashes. Their economy would have been a fraction of its current size – certainly under half its current size.
The US made an enormous mistake by not charging them for the defence that it provided – say 5 per cent of GDP per year. If they had done so, the world would be a different place today, and the US likely would not have incurred the dramatic lists of manufacturing it has. Same goes re Germany – the US has covered much of the cost of defending Europe, to its economic disadvantage.
And one more thing – despite everything, the US is still, by far, the most powerful manufacturing entity on earth. China by shear mass is making inroads, but it is a pale shadow of the US in manufacturing.
” ……. the US is still, by far, the most powerful manufacturing entity on earth. China by shear mass is making inroads, but it is a pale shadow of the US in manufacturing.” —–Llpoh
Pales? How do you explain this?
[img
[/img]
Stuck – China makes more by volume, based on using gazillions more folks to do so. The US has a vast and diverse and productive manufacturing sector. Some countries produce more per person, but that reflects the industries, size, of corps, etc.
Only on size alone does China compete based on shear numbers of workers. China uses something like 30% of its workers in mfg, while by memory the US uses about 8% these days. A billion people versus 300 million.
The US is still the powerhouse in all other measures. And it is not even close.
1930’s Japan had manufacturing at around 20% of GDP, textiles were decent quality but most of the goods were low in quality. The US pumped 2 billion into Japan between 1950 and the early 70’s which was a shitload of money back then and Llpoh is correct that we lifted their quality standards with our best and brightest experts. Japan in the thirties depended greatly on agriculture as it was about equal to manufacturing in terms of GDP.
I absolutely stand on my statement that we elevated Japan to a powerhouse manufacturing country.
Bea is correct.
Lipoh, what I am saying is they built quality stuff already, not that they built a lot of it. That woyld be because of how much is needed, the demand. The mitsubishi zero just as good as spitfire or messerschitt, they built a lot of because they planned on using them, cars they did not because they were for domestic market that most people could not afford yet, also they could not export because they were designed small engines and low power because fudl for them is expensive then. That still happens now, they make suzukis in india engines 1 litre or less because most of them cant afford much fuel. Across asia millions of 50cc scooters because they cant run a 5000cc v8 like americans. Americans cant ship most of their cars around the world because they are not as advanced or reliable. Theres a lot of good quality american made things but they are simple machines or nothing high tech. Ive always been amazed by japanese engineering and im an old autobody repairer, so I know the difference working on american, european and japanese. They made everything lighter but strong enough, reliable and easier to get at. Also watches and hi fi, their quality and price compared to others always amazed me.
Made in usa stuff like clothes, tools, weapons etc doesnt break unless youre really abusing to break it. Japs never had styling that was real work of art like a 64 mustang or many other american classics either.
Herschel – I like your posts. But on this you are not entirely right. I appreciate your point, but Japan was a laggard in manufacturing, both in quality and quantity pre-Ww2, except in a couple of specialised areas.
They built a nice plane, and some nice ships. How reliable they were I do not know. When they sank the rust buckets at Pearl, they fucked up, as the US ended up with nice, new ships.
What the Japs simply could not do pre-WW2 was build high quality volume things, like cars, for instance. That came after WW2, especially with the process commencing around 1950, and as a direct result of Deming and the fact they were rebuilt in large part by the US.
The key is quality at volume, which has been the American forte. Still is, although the Americans have lost the necessary attention to detail required in many industries to be world’s best, as they once were. American culture/workers are just is not suited to the fine detail and discipline required to produce top quality anymore.
The Japs can do it now, in spades. It suits them, the Germans, the Swiss. But they could not before WW2.