WANTED: People who make stuff
Extra-long read on the shortage of skilled workers in certain parts of the world that were so stupid they did all the wrong things.
Once upon a time in Bulgaria, vocational schools were top-notch educational institutions. Building socialism, or was it communism, I can’t remember, required building material things, from transmission lines to railways, from power plants to substations, from vocational schools to a lot of other things that did not require a university degree but did require knowing how to make stuff. And speaking of university degrees, up to about 40 years ago everyone wanted to be an engineer.
Now, vocational schools are lame. So lame, in fact, that they have acquired notoriety as the cesspits where high school failures end up for lack of better prospects based on their bad grades, and they don’t as a rule go into the respective trade once they graduate. There are exceptions, of course. They are few, far between, and specialising in either tourism, accounting, or software. Which is why local electricians, mechanics, and, indeed, engineers, have the best job security in the country. Incidentally, the situation is not unique to Bulgaria. Equally incidentally, things are even worse in the West.
Back in 2023, the Wall Street Journal published an article warning about an existing and worsening shortage of electricians right when demand for their services was expected to balloon, what with the Inflation Reduction Act and all these green jobs it was going to create. But even without the IRA, there are not enough electricians in the U.S.. Also in Europe and Australia, and I would like to spare a moment to appreciate the colloquial name for electricians in Australia, which, I understand, is sparkies.
A sparkie shortage in a world that is trying hard to electrify because it is being told it simply must, is a situation even more unfortunate than the situation with green hydrogen costs. It is, in fact, more than unfortunate. Because there are not enough engineers, either. In short, there are not enough people to power a substantial part of the world, quite literally.
