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Show Remember the story about" the plumber who presents his bill to the shocked homeowner. The homeowner comments, "With prices like these you should be a doctor. " The plumber shoots back, "I was!" THE MORAL of the story points out what has been typical for years-skilled workers are at a premium. And, as the economy picks up steam, the demand for the trade and technically trained is taking up where it left off pre-recession. However, the demand for workers may, in fact, outstrip supply. A few months ago then-Secretary of Labor John Dunlop expressed fears that the scarcity of machinists, electricians, secretaries and others similarly skilled may, in fact, bottleneck recovery. THE BY now legendary problem of too many PhD.'s and teachers and not enough plumbers recently encouraged en-couraged the U.S. Department Depart-ment of Labor to remodel JOBFLO, a program originally set up to help returning re-turning Vietnam veterans, into a national computerized service which now pinpoints "Frequently Listed Open-ings"occupations Open-ings"occupations with exceptionally ex-ceptionally high demand. A monthly report is published which lists about 200 such careers and is sent to high school counselors, educators and others instrumental ins-trumental in manpower planning plan-ning with the goal of eventually even-tually attracting young people into these areas. ACCORDING TO Aprils . JOBFLO report (the latest one released by Labor), in high demand were auto mechanics, electronic technicians, tech-nicians, computer pFOgrammers,-machinists,- arc welders and carpenters. Wile jobs for liberal arts graduates have all but evaporated, the demand for those who specialize in a skill is flourishing as businesses recover from years of recession. reces-sion. PARTICULARLY consistent consis-tent among JOBFLO's high demand occupations are computer programmers who, indeed, in 1975 experienced a 1.7 unemployment rate, the lowest of any group and well below the national average of 8.5. "The need for qualified"" computer programmers is fantastic," according to S. J. Borowski, EDP Manager for American Express's Travelers Cheque Division-a major employer of prog rammers-"and Che future fu-ture is particularly bright since computers have not yet begun to saturate the business world. Computer power is simply becoming more feasible." "WE STILL get two job offers for every graduate, even though the recession has had an effect on the market," according to Charles Jans sen. Director of the Computer Learning Center in Fairfax. Va. And, competition among employers is strong. In one exceptional case, one bright 22-year-old CLC graduate was able to parlay his skills into an $18,000-a-year job with an international data information service. However, salaries for programmers mostly range between $9,000-$12,000 to start. A SCARCITY of auto mechanics was reported in 88 out of the 200 districts participating par-ticipating in JOBFLO, probably proba-bly due to the number of Americans who have taken to the roads again for summer vacation, in spite of higher fuel costs. "Skilled auto mechanics can literally 'write their own ticket' these days,' as one industry source stated. In fact, the Committee on Motor Vehicle Emissions of the National Na-tional Academy of Sciences reported that America is at least 800,000 mechanics short. -, "THE SHORTAGE of trained mechanics is a well-known well-known fact in the industry," says John Mehrtens, Volkswagen's Volks-wagen's District Service Manager for northern New Jersey. "Right now I have 25 openings-and plenty of applicants, but cars are getting get-ting too technical to hire 'off the street'," he added. While the search is on for auto mechanics, small aircraft manufacturers are snapping up available qualified aviation mechanics and avionics technicians. With booming sales of light planes, which last year netted $1 billion, plus a high number of WW 1 1-trained mechanics now retiring, aviation mechanics are being courted by manufacturers and companies com-panies which maintain private fleets of airplanes and helicopters. IN FACT, according to industry in-dustry predictions, even if every certified aviation mechanic school reported record enrollments, manufacturers would still be short for the next eight years. BY 1977, THE need for aviation mechanics will increase by 94 and a whopping whop-ping 230 for avionics technicians tech-nicians who install and maintain main-tain the plane's complex electronic systems. An increasing health consciousness cons-ciousness added to the fact that more Americans than ever before are covered under Federal and employer-paid medical programs has precipitated a skyrocketing demand for allied health workers to help share the workload of doctors and nurses-a demand which has never caught up with supply. SOME STATES have had to take training into their own hands in order to meet their needs already a common practice among hospitals. Oklahoma, for example, has noted manpower shortages consistently since 1967, and has conducted 59 training programs to meet its ntfeds-a ntfeds-a goal still unreached. Ken Hager, director of the Cleveland Area Hospital near Tulsa, regularly participates in health manpower programs for the state. "There's a real need-especially need-especially in the rural areas which tend to have a high elderly el-derly population. I've had a 2-month vacancy for o respiratory res-piratory therapist and medical transcriber, but people with training are concentrated con-centrated in urban centers." Texas, also, is faced with severe shortages. In 1974, the Texas Health Associaton assessed as-sessed its manpower needs and found out that the state was short of over 18,000 jobs for nurses, respiratory" therapists," emergency medical technicians, and other paramedics. '; The situation prompted tne ; Association to act as a ; placement bureau for its hos- ; pitals, locating qualified t people through newspaper i ads around the country. t A BRAND new-and quickly I expanding field of medical. technology combines elec- 1 ironies and medicine. New developments in the field, as i well-as a greater use of medical equipment such as 1 intensive care units, Brain ! scanners and EKG machines is a case where technology has outstripped manpower t training. "SPECIALIZATION in ! medical electronics is one of ' the surest employment bets a man or woman can make," according to Walter Pienkos, Personnel Director at t Hewlett-Packard in Waltham, Massachusetts, one of the f largest manufacturers of medical equipment in the world." "There's been tremendous growth in this area since hos- pitals are turning more and more toward the use of sophisticated therapeutic and diagnostic equipment. Elec- tronics is an excellent field ; for women," he added. "We have quite a few women tech-- 3 nicians and would encourage1 f more to consider this field." ' EXPERTS BELIEVE that I well over 1 million jobs are literally going begging due to : the lack of trained men and women to fill them. And, they i estimate that the overwhelm- j ing majority of jobs require z vocational training not 4 years of college. Information on growth 1 careers may be obtained by I writing the National Assoc i a- f tion uf Trade and Technical Schools, 2021 L Street, N.W., - Washington, D.C. 20036. i |