Labor shortage

The Wall Street Journal article says that although much attention has been focused on the growing scarcity of service workers for restaurants, hotels and stores a far more serious labor shortage is emerging for skilled blue collar craftsmen ranging from machinists and electricians to shipbuilders and bricklayers. One example cited to illustrate the severity of labor shortage of craftsmen was Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut. At the time the article was written Electric Boat Company had over 300 openings for machinists, welders, pipe fitters and other skilled craftsmen. Competition was so fierce for people with these skills that when 97 craftsmen at a nearby plant were laid off, Electric Boat offered jobs to 30 of the workers but were able to hire only two.

To attract craftsmen, the Electric Boat Company and other employers have adopted a number of recruitment practices that in a slack labor market they would not bother with. Electric Boat Company for example placed help-wanted advertisements as far away as Wisconsin, and sent company recruiters to Western Pennsylvania in search of laid-off craftsmen from the steel industry. The company also sent representatives to area high schools to discuss job opportunities with graduating seniors.