While analysts and economists may disagree on the solution to an economic recession, they all agree that job creation and wage rates play a critical role in economic growth. You may be inclined to believe the issue today is a lack of jobs, citing job cuts and layoffs as support. However, the winners of the Nobel prize in economics for 2010 disagree–it may be a lack of proper job training.

Peter Diamond, Dale Mortensen and Christopher Pissarides shared the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for their work on wage formation through search markets. Professor Diamond is known for his conclusion that higher levels of unemployment insurance can actually lead to job creation, a point hotly debated by politicians. Mortensen and Pissarides are well known for their work in finding a negative relationship between the number of jobs and the level of unemployment.
Applicants Lacking Job Skills Training

These three economists have developed theories which explain how so many people can be unemployed with a large number of job openings on the market. Put together, their work suggests the issue is not lack of jobs, but lack of an efficient market to match employers with the right employee. This is especially the case in terms of skill set. Recruiters and temp agencies believe the issue is not a lack of jobs, but a lack of qualified candidates.

Doug Beabout, CPC, of The Douglas Howard Group believes the skills gap will only grow in the future. “There will be between six and eight million jobs open by 2013, and that’s just representing the jobs that exist right now, with no growth in the economy taken into account,” said Beabout. He continues, “There will not be people in our population who can do these jobs.”