Saturday, January 12, 2013

Low Wages, Not Skills Mismatch

More evidence from Catherine Rampell invalidating the skills mismatch story.

Are There Really No Good Job Applicants Out There?
What’s especially odd about these survey responses is that if employers are having trouble finding qualified workers, they should be bidding up wages to attract the few qualified workers who are out there. But that’s not what the data show.
Average hourly earnings in the private sector fell over the period that businesses reported having increased trouble finding qualified workers (December 2009 to September 2012). Perhaps this means businesses are having trouble finding qualified workers precisely because they’re unwilling to pay new hires enough money.

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