German Giant Says US Workers Lack Skills

Siemens has just reported that it is now unable to find US workers qualified even for entry level apprentice jobs.

WGUW … Washington State’s new no faculty, online solution to the problem .. offers our answers!  DIPLOMAS!  Not just high school diploma but Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. AND, this is costing the State of WA NOTHING, because WGU can create these degrees with no state funds!

Free is good?

Not so fast.  Go to WGUW’s new Washington website and look at the “degrees” it offers.:

K-12 Education ... is there a shortage of people with degrees in elementary education? Worse, the WGU “competency” concept is pass-fail.  Do we want high school chemistry teachers with WGU degrees who have learned chemistry from a “home kit?”

Nursing Administration … err, WGU does NOT offer this degree to students wanting to learn nursing because .. WGU does not offer nursing!  The idea seems to be that we have a lot of RNs and LPNs, people already with nursing certificates from real nursing schools who just need diplomas so they can become administrators.  Seems to me that an RN wanting to upgrade her skill would be a lot better off doing so at a real nursing school.  What is the wait list for Washington states’ highly rated nursing programs that train nurses for the emergency room or as nurse practitioners?

Business .. Is the demand for marketing and leadership skills taught online very high? The concept of a degree in business is vague enough that WGU likely CAN give a degree.   Without any face to face interpersonal interactions, with no actual tems, and no faculty with expertise in hard edged business skills like accounting or law,… are these degrees worth anything?

IT .. Sounds good, except the coursework offered is very, very low level.  American network administrators are already being laid off because it is less expensive for companies here to find qualified workers from overseas and pay to bring these qualified workers here!  Former employees of Central Florida Siemens, Mike Emmons and James Granberry told Problem Solver Steven Cooper of Local 6 News a local Florida news agency that they were forced to train their foreign replacements before being laid off. They say that they were told, “if you don’t stay and train them you won’t get your severance.”

NOW for some Reality.T he people losing these jobs campaign that the foreign workers earn less, but Siemens’ report is that they can not find qualified American workers! Siemens has just issues a report on why, with a 9.1% unemployment, the German high tech firm can not find US employees even at the level of job apprentice. The WGU answer?  All Siemens needs to do is see our diplomas!

Read more about Siemens’ dilemma from the Financial Times: