On October 16^th there was a Presidential Debate. The Republican challenger Governor Mitt Romney and incumbent President Barack Obama, squared off in a high-stakes, and rather chippy town-hall debate. During the debate POTUS said something that I found polarizing and I really don’t think many people actually caught what he said.  This is taken from the transcript from the debate when the POTUS was asked about outsourcing and jobs. President Obama said, “Candy,(the moderator) there are some jobs that are not going to come back. Because they are low wage, low skill jobs. I want high wage, high skill jobs.“ BOOM! Some of you may want to read that again.

What the President said is absolutely correct and its about time someone said it. As an HR guy who pays attention to job growth, unemployment numbers and career opportunities, I’ve felt that number of jobs this country lost during the recession would not comeback mainly due to technology, market trends and the global workforce. You should look at the job growth in your area, notice the types of jobs that are available. The Mid-South is a big distribution center, so there are lots of warehouse and low wage jobs, but the customer service and information technology jobs are few and far between. In my region, there are many reasons for this, from demographics to politics to education.

We have to be more competitive.

If you are watching the political process, jobs are the hot topic. People need jobs. People need to make a living. People need to raise their kids. You can’t do any of that without a job, a career , or a revenue stream.  So you’re doing well now right. Have you asked yourself what would you do if you, your spouse or heaven forbid both of you, lose your jobs? What’s the back up plan? What’s next? Just get another job? Well sure but what kind of job do you qualify for? Are you skilled? Are you talented? Are you a jerk? That’s important, no one wants to work with a jerk.

Don’t listen to me, listen to the President, low wage, low skill jobs aren’t coming back.Ever. We need highly skilled (educated, certified and trained) workers. If you don’t know, now you know.