Skilled worker 1

Skilled worker
A skilled worker is any worker who has special skill, training, knowledge, and (usually acquired) ability in their
work. A skilled worker may have attended a college, university or technical school. Or, a skilled worker may have
learned their skills on the job. Examples of skilled labor jobs include software development, paramedics, police
officers, painters, craftsmen and women and accounting.

History
In the northern region of the United States, craft unions may have
served as the catalyst to ferment 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 'eighties 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 A skilled worker working at Richmond Shipyards
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:
• agricultural workers,
• unskilled and semi-skilled workers,
• skilled craft workers,
• other skilled workers and
• domestic workers.[6]
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 field of education,
the training of skilled workers in technical schools, 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]
Skilled worker 2

Overview
While most (if not all) jobs require some level of skill, "skilled workers" bring some degree of expertise to the
performance of a given job. For example, a factory worker who inspects new televisions for whether they turn on or
off can fulfil this job with little or no knowledge of the inner workings of televisions. However, someone who
repairs televisions would be considered a skilled worker, since such a person would possess the knowledge to be
able to identify and correct problems with a television.
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 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, skilled
worker positions are not seasonal or temporary and require at least two years of experience or training.
Skilled work varies in type (i.e., service versus labor), education requirements (i.e., apprenticeship versus graduate
college) and availability (freelance versus on-call). Such 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."[9]
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.[10]

Education
Education can be received in a variety of manners, and is acknowledged through various means. Below is a sampling
of educational conventions. (According to Greenspan, math skill more than anything else is required to achieve
skilled-job status and is the one skill too many high school grads lack ).[11]
• On-the-job training - (Examples: cashier, fashion model, farmhand, office clerk)
• Apprenticeship - (Examples: carpenter, electrician, mason, mechanic, plumber, welder)
• Vocational certification - (Examples: chef, cosmetologist, dental assistant, paralegal)
• Associate Degree - (Examples: commercial artist, draftsman, licensed practical nurse)
• Undergraduate Degree - (Examples: accountant, teacher, registered nurse, software developer)
• Professional Degree - (Examples: architect, dentist, engineer, lawyer, medical doctor)
• Graduate Degree - (Examples: astronaut, mathematician, nurse practitioner, scientist, university professor)
Skilled worker 3

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
See also: Brain drain
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]
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.[15]
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.[16][17]
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".[18]
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
Skilled worker 4

policies of the receiving country and a stepping-up of the demands of the sending country for the return migration of
skilled workers.[19][20]

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] Alan Greenspan The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, p. 405, The Penguin Press, 2007 ISBN 978-1-59420-131-8
[10] ibid. p. 398
[11] The Age of Turbulance, ibid. p. 404
[12] The Age of Turbulance, ibid. p. 395
[13] G. Beijer Brain Drain, p. 1, Brill Archive, 1972 ISBN 978-90-247-1453-7
[14] "Why People Apply for Immigration?" (http:/ / www. exonimmigration. com/ why-people-apply-for-immigration/ ) by Exon
[15] Dean Baker/Geral A. Epstein/Robert Pollin Globalization and Progressive Economic Policy, p. 362, Cambridge University Press, 1998
ISBN 978-0-521-64376-4
[16] International Mobility of the Highly Skilled, p. 214, OECD Publishing, 2002 ISBN 978-92-64-19689-6
[17] International Mobility of the Highly Skilled (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=lcuxq29bXloC& dq=migration+ of+ skilled+ workers&
lr=)
[18] Adam Jolly OECD Economies and the World Today, p. 213, Kogan Page Publishers, 2003 ISBN 978-0-7494-3781-7
[19] Richard S. Newfarmer Global Economic Prospects 2004, p. 158, World Bank Publications, 2003 ISBN 978-0-8213-5582-4
[20] World Bank: Global Economic Prospects, 2004 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=uo4UWKDxRGIC& dq=migration+ of+ skilled+
workers& lr=)
Article Sources and Contributors 5

Article Sources and Contributors

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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:African American worker Richmond Shipyards.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:African_American_worker_Richmond_Shipyards.jpg  License: Public Domain
 Contributors: Ann Rosener, U.S. Office of War Information

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