The Skills Gap...and Foreign Workers Program

Paul Krugman makes a compelling argument on the “skills gap” position in the United States. Does this sound familiar to Canadians?  Three points to consider:

Krugman argues that it is the very fact of being out of work which makes employers unwilling even to look at their qualifications. 

The skills myth is having dire effects on real-world policy. Instead of focusing on the way disastrously wrongheaded fiscal policy and inadequate action by the Federal Government have crippled the economy and demanding action, important people piously wring their hands about the failings of Canadian workers.

By blaming workers for their own plight, the skills myth shifts attention away from the spectacle of soaring profits and bonuses even as employment and wages stagnate. Of course, that may be another reason corporate executives like the myth so much.

Does any of this sound familiar?