Corporate America loves its myths. Especially ones allowing it to pat itself on the back, pretend its operations aren’t political, and solicit taxpayer funding for training its remaining workers. There’s little it loves more than pretending it’s providing a service and getting neither attention nor respect in return.

You know, like the skills gap myth. What’s the idea behind the ‘skills gap’? There’s a mismatch between the skills potential workers have and the skills employers want. In other words, a…skills gap. It’s not, they say, that they’re not hiring. It’s that they’re not finding what they need. What’s the evidence that there’s a skills gap? Employers say there’s one. Yes, survey data is the primary piece of evidence, even though employers might have incentive to…well…pat themselves on the back, pretend their operations aren’t political, and solicit taxpayer funding for training their workers.

In short, they’re working the refs.

In fact, it’s not all based on survey data. Some of it researchers base on the number of unfilled jobs. The problem? If there really were a skills gap – at least a skills gap motivating employers to do something about it – they’d lower their standards, or they’d offer better jobs, more pay, or training. Do they do these things? Well, no. While there might be small gaps in specific, narrow fields, there’s none whatsoever in the broader employment market. Nor has there been for a long, long time. If there were, you’d see employers offering more money or training.

As it happens, I recently read a poll providing some additional insight into the myth. It shows much of what we’d expect. But it also shows yet another reason employees are reluctant to take jobs: they don’t want to move, because they’re afraid of getting laid off. Why do you suppose that might be?

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