Skilled worker

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A skilled worker is any worker who has special skill, training, or knowledge which they can then apply to their work. A skilled worker may have learned their skills through work experience, on-the-job training, an apprenticeship program or formal education. These skills often lead to better outcomes economically. The definition of a skilled worker has seen change throughout the 20th century, largely due to the industrial impact of the Great Depression and World War II. Further changes in globalisation have seen this definition shift further in Western countries, with many jobs moving from manufacturing based sectors to more advanced technical and service based roles. Examples of formally educated skilled labor include engineers, scientists, doctors and teachers, while examples of less formally educated workers include crane operators, CDL truck drivers, machinists, drafters, plumbers, craftsmen, cooks and bookkeepers.

Contents

History

A skilled worker working at Richmond Shipyards African American worker Richmond Shipyards.jpg
A skilled worker working at Richmond Shipyards

In the northern region of the United States, craft unions may have served as the catalyst to develop a strong solidarity in favor of skilled labor in the period of the Gilded Age (1865-1900). [1]

In the early 1880s, the craft unions of skilled workers walked hand in hand with the Knights of Labor but the harmony did not last long and by 1885, the Knights' leadership became hostile to trade unions. The Knights argued that the specialization of industrialization had undermined the bargaining power of skilled labor. This was partly true in the 1880s but it had not yet made obsolete the existence of craft unionism. [2]

...The impact of scientific management upon skilled workers should not be overstressed, especially in the period before World War I. [3]

The period between 1901 and 1925 signals the rise and fall of the Socialist Party of America which depended on skilled workers. In 1906, with the publication of The Jungle , the most popular voice of socialism in the early 20th century, Upton Sinclair gave them ignorant "...Negroes and the lowest foreigners —Greeks, Roumanians, Sicilians, and Slovaks" hell. [4]

There was a divergence in status within the working class between skilled and unskilled labor due to the fall in prices of some products and the skilled workers' rising standard of living after the depression of 1929. Skilled workers were the heart of the labor movement before World War I but during the 1920s, they lost much of their enthusiasm and the movement suffered thereby. [5]

In the 20th century, in Nazi Germany, the lower class was subdivided into:

After the end of World War II, West Germany surpassed France in the employment of skilled labor needed at a time when industrialization was sweeping Europe at a fast pace. West Germany's preponderance in the training of skilled workers, was the main factor to outweigh the balance between the two countries. In the period between 1950 and 1970, the number of technicians and engineers in West Germany rose from 160,000 to approximately 570,000 by promoting skilled workers through the ranks so that those who were performing skilled labor in 1950 had already become technicians and engineers by 1970. [7]

In the first decade of the 21st century, the average wage of a highly skilled machinist in the United States of America is $3,000 to $4,000 per month. In China, the average wage for a factory worker is $150 a month. [8]

Overview

A skilled worker welding a pipe in British Columbia, Canada, 2014 Welding pipe.jpg
A skilled worker welding a pipe in British Columbia, Canada, 2014

In addition to the general use of the term, various agencies or governments, both federal and local, may require skilled workers to meet additional specifications. Such definitions can affect matters such as immigration, licensure and eligibility for travel or residency. For example, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, skilled worker positions are not seasonal or temporary and require at least two years of experience or training. [9]

Skilled work varies in type (service versus labor), education requirements (apprenticeship versus graduate college) and availability (freelance versus on-call). Each differences are often reflected in titling, opportunity, responsibility and (most significantly) salary.

Both skilled and non-skilled workers are vital and indispensable for the smooth-running of a free-market and/or capitalist society. According to Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, "Enhancing elementary and secondary school sensitivity to market forces should help restore the balance between the demand for and the supply of skilled workers in the United States." [10]

Generally, however, individual skilled workers are more valued to a given company than individual non-skilled workers, as skilled workers tend to be more difficult to replace. As a result, skilled workers tend to demand more in the way of financial compensation because of their efforts. According to Greenspan, corporate managers are willing to bid up pay packages to acquire skilled workers as they identify the lack of skilled labor as one of today's greatest problems. [11]

Education

Education can be delivered in a variety of manners, and is certified or acknowledged through various means. Below is a sampling of educational conventions:

Benefits

Skilled workers are an invaluable asset to companies. Benefits of a skilled workforce include:

Electronics

In American industry, there has been a change in the concentration of skilled workers from the areas of past economic might e. g. steel, automobile, textile and chemicals to the more recent (21st century) industry developments e. g. computers, telecommunications and information technology which is commonly stated to represent a plus rather than a minus for the American standard of living. [12]

Procurement

Due to globalization, regional shortages of skilled workers, migration, outsourcing, and other factors, the methods of procuring skilled workers has changed in recent years.

Migration

All countries are in a process of change and transition which makes possible the migration of skilled workers from places of lower to higher opportunities in training and better working conditions. Although materialistic rewards play a role in skilled workers migration, it is the lack of security, opportunity and suitable rewards in the homeland that fundamentally makes this massive movement of people possible, going from places of lesser development to affluent societies. [13] [14]

Educational poaching is a concern among the developing nations, with the richest nations benefiting from educational resources of the nations who can least afford to lose the most productive career years of their highly skilled professionals. This factor disincentives investment in education in both the developing and developed world, as foreign students and foreign workers limit opportunities for citizens in the receiving countries. [15] Some developing countries see the migration of domestically trained professionals abroad not as a drain but as a gain, a "brain bank" from which to draw at a price; for these professionals, on their return with their accumulated skills, would contribute to the growth of the homeland; cultural factors favor the return of these professionals for a short or a long while. [16] However, policy in the United States is geared toward making non-immigrant visas eligible for adjustment of status to permanent residence status. [17]

Canada Skilled Worker immigration

On January 1, 2015, the Government of Canada implemented the Express Entry Immigration system under the Economic Class including the Federal Skilled Worker Program. Under Express Entry, Federal Skilled Workers across 347 eligible occupations who meet minimum entry criteria, submit an expression of interest profile to the Express Entry Pool. The profiles of candidates in the pool are ranked under a Comprehensive Ranking System. [18]

South Africa

Under Apartheid, the development of skilled workers was concentrated on the white inhabitants but after the socio-political upheaval of the 1990s, these same skilled workers are emigrating, a highly sensitive subject in contemporary South African Society. The media in South Africa has increasingly covered the "brain drain" in the 1990s. Starting in 1994, when a democratically elected government took control of the reins of power, official South African statistics show a greater emigration of skilled workers. The validity of this data has been questioned. [19] [20]

European Union

The European Union brought policy into force that paved the way for skilled workers from outside the Union to work and live in the EU under the Blue Card (European Union) Scheme. The key reasons for introducing this policy are an ageing population in general and an increasing shortage of skilled workers in many member states.

Highly skilled workers migration intensity

The demand for Information Technology (IT) skilled workers is on the rise. This has led to a lessening of the immigration restrictions prevalent in various countries. Migration of skilled workers from Asia to the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia is common, specially among students and the temporary migration of IT skilled workers. Data shows, however, that the migration of skilled workers from Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and France to the United States is only temporary and is more like a brain exchange than a "brain drain". [21]

World Bank Policy on Fair Exchange

Brain Drain literature focuses mainly on the high cost of skilled migration for the homeland or sending country. This loss can be partly offset if the migration is only temporary. Developing countries invest heavily in education. However, temporary migration can generate a substantial remittance of capital flow to the homeland. This flow of capital plus the additional knowledge gained would do more than compensate the homeland for the investment made originally in educating the skilled worker. The key to temporary migration is a change in the trade and immigration policies of the receiving country and a stepping-up of the demands of the sending country for the return migration of skilled workers. [22] [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apprenticeship</span> System for training new crafts-people

Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulated occupation. Most of their training is done while working for an employer who helps the apprentices learn their trade or profession, in exchange for their continued labor for an agreed period after they have achieved measurable competencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human capital flight</span> Emigration of highly skilled or well-educated individuals

Human capital flight is the emigration or immigration of individuals who have received advanced training at home. The net benefits of human capital flight for the receiving country are sometimes referred to as a "brain gain" whereas the net costs for the sending country are sometimes referred to as a "brain drain". In occupations with a surplus of graduates, immigration of foreign-trained professionals can aggravate the underemployment of domestic graduates, whereas emigration from an area with a surplus of trained people leads to better opportunities for those remaining. But emigration may cause problems for the home country if the trained people are in short supply there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tradesperson</span> Skilled specialist

A tradesperson or tradesman/woman is a skilled worker that specialises in a particular trade. Tradespeople (tradesmen/women) usually gain their skills through work experience, on-the-job training, an apprenticeship program or formal education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign worker</span> Person working in a country where they do not have citizenship

Foreign workers or guest workers are people who work in a country other than one of which they are a citizen. Some foreign workers use a guest worker program in a country with more preferred job prospects than in their home country. Guest workers are often either sent or invited to work outside their home country or have acquired a job before leaving their home country, whereas migrant workers often leave their home country without a specific job in prospect.

The H-1B is a visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 101(a)(15)(H), that allows U.S. employers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. It is the largest visa category in the United States in terms of guest worker numbers. A specialty occupation requires the application of specialized knowledge and a bachelor's degree or the equivalent of work experience. The duration of stay is three years, extendable to six years, after which the visa holder can reapply. Laws limit the number of H-1B visas that are issued each year. There exist congressionally mandated caps limiting the number of H-1B visas that can be issued each fiscal year, which is 65,000 visas, and an additional 20,000 set aside for those graduating with master’s degrees or higher from a U.S. college or university. An employer must sponsor individuals for the visa. USCIS estimates there are 583,420 foreign nationals on H-1B visas as of September 30, 2019. The number of issued H-1B visas have quadrupled since the first year these visas were issued in 1991. There were 206,002 initial and continuing H-1B visas issued in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Migrant worker</span> Person who migrates to pursue work

A migrant worker is a person who migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have an intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.

In the United States, Optional Practical Training (OPT) is a period during which undergraduate and graduate students with F-1 status who have completed or have been pursuing their degrees for one academic year are permitted by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to work for one year on a student visa towards getting practical training to complement their education. Foreign students currently enrolled at a U.S. university can receive full-time or part-time work authorization through Curricular Practical Training. In 2022, there were 171,635 OPT employment authorizations. In 2021, there were 115,651 new non-STEM OPT authorizations, a 105% increase from a decade ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration</span> Movement of people into another country or region to which they are not native

Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short-term stays in a destination country do not fall under the definition of immigration or migration; seasonal labour immigration is sometimes included, however.

‍A guest worker program allows foreign workers to temporarily reside and work in a host country until a next round of workers is readily available to switch. Guest workers typically perform low or semi-skilled agricultural, industrial, or domestic labor in countries with workforce shortages, and they return home once their contract has expired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sociology of immigration</span>

The sociology of immigration involves the sociological analysis of immigration, particularly with respect to race and ethnicity, social structure, and political policy. Important concepts include assimilation, enculturation, marginalization, multiculturalism, postcolonialism, transnationalism and social cohesion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economic impact of immigration to Canada</span> Overview for Canada

The economic impact of immigration is an important topic in Canada. Two conflicting narratives exist: 1) higher immigration levels help to increase GDP and 2) higher immigration levels decrease GDP per capita or living standards for the resident population and lead to diseconomies of scale in terms of overcrowding of hospitals, schools and recreational facilities, deteriorating environment, increase in cost of services, increase in cost of housing, etc. A commonly supported argument is that impact of immigration on GDP is not an effective metric for immigration. Another narrative regarding immigration is the replacement of the aging workforce. However, economists note that increasing immigration rates is not an entirely effective strategy to counter it. Policy Options found that mass immigration has a null effect on GDP. Increased immigration numbers and the associated soaring housing prices have significantly contributed to the rise of inflation in 2021 to the highest in 18 years.

Skill is a measure of the amount of worker's expertise, specialization, wages, and supervisory capacity. Skilled workers are generally more trained, higher paid, and have more responsibilities than unskilled workers.

Reverse brain drain is a form of brain drain where human capital moves in reverse from a more developed country to a less developed country that is developing rapidly. These migrants may accumulate savings, also known as remittances, and develop skills overseas that can be used in their home country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circular migration</span>

Circular migration or repeat migration is the temporary and usually repetitive movement of a migrant worker between home and host areas, typically for the purpose of employment. It represents an established pattern of population mobility, whether cross-country or rural-urban. There are several benefits associated with this migration pattern, including gains in financial capital, human capital, and social capital. There are also costs associated with circular migration, such as brain drain, poor working conditions, forced labor, and the inability to transfer acquired skills to home economies. Socially, there are strong connections to gender, health outcomes, development, poverty, and global immigration policy.

A work permit or work visa is the permission to take a job within a foreign country. The foreign country where someone seeks to obtain a work permit for is also known as the "country of work", as opposed to the "country of origin" where someone holds citizenship or nationality.

Brain circulation is the circular movement of skilled labour across nations.

Student migration is the movement of students who study outside their country of birth or citizenship for a period of 12 months or more. During the period of globalization, the internationalisation of higher education increased dramatically and it has become a market driven activity. With the rapid rise of international education more and more students are seeking higher education in foreign countries and many international students now consider overseas study a stepping-stone to permanent residency within a country. The contributions that foreign students make to host nation economies, both culturally and financially has encouraged major players to implement further initiatives to facilitate the arrival and integration of overseas students, including substantial amendments to immigration and visa policies and procedures. Institutions are competing hard to attract international students at a time when immigration policies in leading destinations like the US and the UK are not enabling transition to work visas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emigration from Africa</span> Overview of emigration from Africa

During the period of 1965 – 2021, an estimated 440,000 people per year emigrated from Africa; a total number of 17 million migrants within Africa was estimated for 2005. The figure of 0.44 million African emigrants per year pales in comparison to the annual population growth of about 2.6%, indicating that only about 2% of Africa's population growth is compensated for by emigration.

Christian Dustmann, FBA, is a German economist who currently serves as Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics of University College London. There, he also works as Director of the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), which he helped found. Dustmann belongs to the world's foremost labour economists and migration scholars.

Brain drain from Nigeria, nicknamed Japa is the exodus of middle-class and highly skilled Nigerians which has been occurring in waves since the late 1980s to early 1990s. This trend was initially restricted to certain professions but has now become free for all with the introduction of visa programs in order to fill workforce gaps in developed nations. This was sparked by an economic downturn following a period of economic boom in the 1970s and 1980s propelled by the discovery of oil wells in Nigeria.

References

  1. ↑ Antoine Joseph/Berry/Ingram Skilled Worker's Solidarity, pp. 73-4, Taylor & Francis, 2000 ISBN   978-0-8153-3336-4
  2. ↑ Philip S. Foner History of the Labor Movement in the United States, pp. 78-9, International Publishers Co., 1976 ISBN   978-0-7178-0388-0
  3. ↑ Dirk Hoerder American Labor and Immigration History, 1877-1920s, p. 153, University of Illinois Press, 1983 ISBN   978-0-252-00963-1
  4. ↑ Robert H. Wiebe Self-Rule, pp. 132-3, University of Chicago Press, 1995 ISBN   978-0-226-89562-8
  5. ↑ Y. S. Brenner A Short History of Economic Progress, p. 213, Routledge, 1969 ISBN   978-0-7146-1277-5
  6. ↑ Detlef Mülhberger Hitler's Followers, p. 19, Routledge, 1991 ISBN   978-0-415-00802-0
  7. ↑ Norbert Altmann/Christoph Köhler/Pamela Meil Technology and Work in German Industry, p. 279, Routledge, 1992 ISBN   978-0-415-07926-6
  8. ↑ Thomas L. Friedman The World Is Flat , p. 147, Macmillan, 2007 ISBN   978-0-374-29278-2
  9. ↑ "Employment-Based Immigration: Third Preference EB-3 | USCIS". www.uscis.gov. 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2023-11-11.
  10. ↑ Greenspan (2007) , p. 405
  11. ↑ Greenspan (2007) , p. 398
  12. ↑ Greenspan (2007) , p. 395
  13. ↑ G. Beijer Brain Drain, p. 1, Brill Archive, 1972 ISBN   978-90-247-1453-7
  14. ↑ "Why People Apply for Immigration?" by Exon
  15. ↑ Phillip Brown; Stuart Tannock (2009). "Education, meritocracy and the global war for talent". Journal of Education Policy. 24 (4): 384–385. doi:10.1080/02680930802669938. S2CID   154369273.
  16. ↑ Dean Baker/Geral A. Epstein/Robert Pollin Globalization and Progressive Economic Policy, p. 362, Cambridge University Press, 1998 ISBN   978-0-521-64376-4
  17. ↑ Laura D. Francis (24 November 2014). "Obama Immigration Order to Impact Millions, Includes Provisions for High-Skilled Workers". Bloomberg Bureau of National Affairs. Retrieved 13 January 2016. But flying under the radar are several administrative changes aimed at highly skilled immigrant workers and entrepreneurs, including increased job portability for immigrants with approved employment-based petitions but who can't get a visa because of annual caps, expansion of the optional practical training program, a review of the permanent labor certification program, and guidance on L-1B intracompany transferee visas for "specialized knowledge" workers.
  18. ↑ Singer, Colin R. (2012-12-17). "Canada Express Entry Immigration, 2014". Immigration.ca. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  19. ↑ International Mobility of the Highly Skilled, p. 214, OECD Publishing, 2002 ISBN   978-92-64-19689-6
  20. ↑ International Mobility of the Highly Skilled. 2001-12-11. ISBN   9789264196087 . Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  21. ↑ Adam Jolly OECD Economies and the World Today, p. 213, Kogan Page Publishers, 2003 ISBN   978-0-7494-3781-7
  22. ↑ Richard S. Newfarmer Global Economic Prospects 2004, p. 158, World Bank Publications, 2003 ISBN   978-0-8213-5582-4
  23. ↑ Bank, World (2003-01-01). World Bank: Global Economic Prospects, 2004. ISBN   9780821355824 . Retrieved 2019-08-27.

Bibliography

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