If there’s one thing that I’m getting sick of hearing about, it’s the skills gap. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a very real situation happening here: as of the last business day of June 2016, there were 5.6 million jobs available in the U.S. according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for said month. At the same time, the U.S. unemployment rate currently sits at 4.9%, which equates to about 7.77 million people. Why is it that we can’t fill these jobs? Why is it that we can’t cut unemployment down to half its current rate? The infamous skills gap, according to the internet… but what if I told you that this whole “skills gap” thing is a myth that those in power are clinging to, hoping to keep the “old way of doing things” alive while fiercely resisting change and innovation? A disclaimer: I’ve written about the skills gap before, what it all means, how to overcome it, etc. It’s only as I’ve grown older, watched the situation develop, and decided to dive into the origin of the skills gap that I’ve realized what a confused web has been woven.
