Since at least the 1980s, politicians and businesspeople have complained that America’s schools were not producing enough “STEMs” graduates – those in science, technology, engineering, and math-related fields (areas of work). We are told that the schools are failing us (hurting us by not doing their job), that if only teachers would do a better job at teaching students in these subjects, all of our problems would be solved.

A new study by researchers at Georgetown University analyzes the number of STEMs workers the U.S. will need in the next few years, as well as the situation of the students who study STEMs in college.  Here are some of the things they report, along with some numbers from a few other places:

• America will need approximately 2.4 million new workers in STEMs  during the 10-year period from 2008 to 2018 (the data (facts) for the study are a few years old).
• American colleges produce around 230,000 new STEMs graduates each year (based on 2007 data).
• 10 years x 230,000 graduates = 2.3 million new STEMs graduates by 2018.

From the facts above, it would seem that the U.S. should be able to meet (to satisfy) all of its STEMs needs just with the graduates we now have. But there is another set of facts that explains why that isn’t true:

• Of 100 people who graduate from college each year, 19 are in STEMs fields.
• Of those 19 people, only 10 will work in a STEMs field after graduating.  The rest will work in other areas – finance and other business areas.
• Of those 10 people who do work in STEMs jobs, only 8 will still be working there 10 years later.

Why do so few STEMs graduates work in STEMs fields? Part of the answer is job satisfaction (how happy you are with something). Many say they want to do other kinds of work that they find more enjoyable. But a big reason is probably related to money.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, STEMs graduate who decides to go into (work in) engineering, for example, will make (earn) around $78,000 a year. That’s pretty good, right? But consider this: the average salary (money you get for working) for STEMs grads (graduates) who work in other professional areas (finance, etc.) and as managers is $102,000. If you do the math (perform the calculations), you can understand why many college graduates in STEMs – almost half! – are not taking jobs in those areas.

Of course, the United States can do better in STEMs education, and schools can always do a better job teaching and inspiring students to major (specialize) in these important fields.  But salaries are important to most people.  If the salaries in technology fields were higher, more people would major in them and more people would actually work in companies that need STEMs employees.

It’s not talent or education that is lacking (missing) in the U.S. What is lacking is the willingness (desire) of STEMs companies to pay higher salaries, because higher salaries would raise the price of their goods and services (things they sell) and make them less competitive with (able to sell less than) foreign companies. Perhaps that’s a good decision; I don’t want to argue that point. It seems to me, however,  that the blame (fault; source of problem), if there is any, is not with America’s schools, but rather with the businesses themselves.

~Jeff

Photo credit: Test tube, Wikipedia CC

In the past 30 years, both schools and businesses in the United States have stressed (emphasized) the importance of teamwork, of people working together to solve a common problem instead of doing everything alone, by themselves. The idea is that you will be more productive (get more done) and/or learn more if you work with someone else. Businesses often say they are looking to hire (employ) someone who is a “team player,” someone who will cooperate and work together well with others.

According to a recent study, however, not everyone likes working with a teammate (a person in your group or team). Researchers asked 174 people to perform a simple task (job). For each task participants (those who were part of the study) completed successfully, they would be given 27 cents. They could work by themselves or with another person, but the pay they received would be the same. About 40% of the women chose to work with someone else, but only 11% of the men did. Women clearly preferred to work together more than men did.

Why did men prefer to work alone more than women? The study found that men thought working with another person would slow them down, making them less able to get the work done quickly. Yet people who worked with others actually did better on average than those who worked alone. Men were more likely to overestimate their abilities (think they were better than they actually were), thinking they could do better by themselves than with another person.

So how do you get men to work with others? You pay them more. When researchers in the study said that they would pay participants 3 cents more to join a group, the men were just as likely to join a group as the women, with about 75% choosing to work with a partner.

So the study concluded that men appear to need a greater incentive (reward) for working with other people than women do, mostly because they think they are better than they actually are.

Now here’s a question for our female readers: Does the idea that men think they are better than they really are surprise you?

~Jeff

Photo credit: Conference Room, Wikipedia CC

Summer is in full swing (in the middle of something, usually with a lot of activity) and the summer blockbusters, or those movies likely to make a lot of money, are out. I recently read an interesting story about Hollywood films becoming popular in countries that have, in the past, not been very interested in them. These new opportunities for new customers (or audiences, in this case) are often called new markets or emerging markets.

I thought I’d take just one paragraph from this article and explain some of the terms:

“Box-office growth in countries such as Russia, Brazil and China (Europe and Japan have long been fertile ground for American movies) comes as theater attendance in the U.S. and Canada has flattened and once-lucrative DVD sales have plummeted.”

A box-office is the place where we buy movie, play, and other performance tickets, so this term is used to refer to how many tickets are sold.  If a movie has a big box-office, it has sold a lot of tickets and is a money-making success.  When a movie sells very few tickets, we say that the movie has bombed.

If something is fertile, it is easy to grow things there.  A woman can be described as fertile if, for example, she gives birth to 11 children.  The ground or soil is often described as fertile, meaning that plants and crops (plants used for food) grow easily and well there.

For something to flatten means to for it to not change, not increase or decrease.  We usually use this to talk about something that has been growing or increasing, but now, that growth or increase has stopped.  This use of “flattened” probably comes from line charts or graphs, showing trends or movement over time.

If something is lucrative, it is likely to make you a lot of money.  We use it to talk about business deals or opportunities: “My brother told me about a lucrative new stock, but I’m too unsure about it to buy it.”

To plummet means to fall or decrease very quickly and very much.  You can use this word literally to mean that someone or something falls very quickly from a high place:  “Jeff dropped the water balloon out of the window, but it plummeted to the ground without hitting me.”  More often, we use “plummet” figuratively to talk about things that decrease quickly:
- “Sales of bananas grown in this area plummeted when people got sick from eating them.”
- “The price of our company’s stocks plummeted with news of the scandal.”

These are all common terms we use, not only to talk about the market for movies, but to talk about business in general (with the exception of “box office,” of course).  You can read the full article here.

Have you seen any Hollywood blockbusters recently you’d recommend? Are you looking forward to any that you’ve heard about?

~ Lucy

Photo Credit: “Movie Premier Setup” from Wikipedia

It’s June and the beginning of the summer travel season. Many of us will be traveling on airplanes and the airlines are hoping we’ll spend more than ever.

The airlines tell us that with the higher price of gasoline, they’re having to find creative ways to make more money.  One of the main ways is to unbundle services that were once included in the price of an airline ticket.  To bundle is to take several or many things and to fasten (tie; fix) them together.  Behind my desk are a bunch of (many) computer and other cords (long piece of material that connects a machine to a power source) that need to be bundled together.

It’s not surprising that the airlines have decided to go this route (follow this plan).  The profit margin (difference between how much something costs a company and how much they charge a customer for it) for add-ons (things added to the original item or service) is about 80%.  In just the past two years, revenues or profits on add-ons have gone up 96% and some airlines get 10 to 30% of their revenues from add-ons alone (by itself).

Here are a list of just a few things that airlines are unbundling from the price of an airline ticket:

• Overhead bin space: Overhead bins are the boxes above airline seats where people put their luggage.  With some airlines, you can now pay extra to be among the first people to board (go onto) the airplane, so you won’t have trouble finding a place for your carry-on luggage.  Cost: $10-$35
• Pets: Do you want to bring your pet with you when you travel?  Be ready to pay $125 each way.
• Wi-fi:  If you want to stay connected to the Internet while on board, you’ll have to pay for it.  Cost: $5-$15.
• Exit rows: In the past, if you were a savvy (knowledgeable) traveler, you know to arrive early at the airport to get a seat in the exit row, where the emergency doors are located.  Those seats tend to (typically; usually) have more leg room for, well, your legs. Now, you have to pay for an exit row seat and the price is different depending on how desirable the location.  Cost: $5-$35
• Clean pillow and blanket: Have you ever wondered who used that pillow on the last flight? If you’re worried about germs (the very small things that can cause illness), you can pay for a sanitized (specially cleaned) pillow and blanket.  Cost: $7
• Meals: If you’re on a longer flight, meals used to be included, but not anymore.  Airlines are now offering more options and sometimes better food, but you’ll have to pay.  Cost: $5-$10
• Baggage: It used to be that each passenger was allowed one checked bag (carried under the airplane, in storage) and one carry-on (carried onto the airplane).  Now most airlines charge for each checked bag.  Cost: $25-$45.

Do you think the airlines are trying to nickel and dime us (get the most money from us for every little thing) or do you think this is a legitimate (real; justifiable) way for the airlines to make money and stay in business?

What would you be willing and not willing to pay for on a flight?

~ Lucy

Photo Credit: Jet Airways 777 Premiere Cabin from Wikipedia

Until recently, companies often paid a headhunter to find high-level employees. Headhunters* are recruiters who find workers with the right skills for a particular job. These headhunters may also help negotiate a compensation package — including salary, benefits, vacation time, stock options, and more — so that a company can get this person to fill its job opening.

These days, the tables have turned (changed completely). Because of the high unemployment rate (percentage of people without jobs), people who are looking for jobs are paying job hunters to find them a position. According to a Time magazine article, in the U.S., 42% of unemployed (without a job) workers have been without a job for at least 27 weeks.

Several new job-hunting websites allow job-seekers (people looking for jobs) to sign up and offer a cash bounty (reward) for a referral (sending someone to a person or a place to get what he or she wants or needs) that results in getting a job.  The amount of the bounty can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars.

Another new kind of website tries to connect people who know about a job opening with people who are looking for jobs.  If a job-seeker finds a job through the website, the person with the job lead (information or clue about a job) collects a fee and so does the website service.

Have you heard of these new services where you live?  How do companies in other countries recruit (attract and hire) high-level employees?

~ Lucy

* The term “headhunter” was traditionally used for someone who collected the heads of his or her dead enemies as a prize for killing them. We don’t hear of that happening these days, except with lawyers.

Photo credit: Grey and navy suit on mannequin. Wikipedia CC

You are a public school principal (director) and school funding (money) is down. You have a difficult choice: Eliminate (cut) the school’s music, art, or sports program or allow advertisements to be place in the school. What would you do?

That’s the dilemma (difficult problem or decision) facing many schools in the U.S. today. With a poor economy comes less governmental funding, and advertisers are offering schools an alternative (another choice) to eliminating educational programs. Advertisers want to put advertising in schools, placing them on school lockers (metal boxes where students keep books and supplies) and on the side of school buses.

More and more schools are feeling desperate (hopeless; without other options) and opting for (choosing) advertising.  For example, in a school district (organization of many schools in one area) in St. Francis, Minnesota, the superintendent (director responsible for a district) agreed to cover 10% to 15% of the school’s lockers with ads. Parents don’t like it, but have not been too vocal (expressing an opinion aloud or loudly) because they know of the poor condition of school funding.

Advertisers, of course, love this form of advertising. School advertising reaches children and teenagers, an important demographic (specific group or part of the population) and the students are a captive audience (cannot leave or avoid what they see or experience).

What do you think of this form of advertising? What if the choice was between eliminating upper-level (advanced) math or science courses and school advertising?  Would your opinion be different?

Is there school advertising where you live? Are there other types of funding for schools?

~ Lucy

Many students just graduating high school or college face (have; encounter) the same problem. Often job openings require experience.  How can you gain experience without first getting a job?

One way to handle this paradox (situation that is contradictory or without a solution) is for students to work in internships.  Internships are jobs that don’t pay any money, but that people can do to get experience.  It is quite common, for example, for a college student to work in an internship while going to school or in the summertime between school years.

Internships provide benefits for both students and employers.  Students get experience, make contacts (become known to people who may help them in future), and get their foot in the door (gain an entry; get an advantage) if the company or organization is looking for future employees.  By the same token (in the same way; similarly), a company or organization gets unpaid labor (work) and can see how well a person works before hiring that person for a full-time job.

Until recently, most interns have been students.  With the weak (poor) economy, however, more and more mid-career (people who have worked in their jobs for 10, 15, 20 years) professionals who have been laid-off (fired from their jobs because there isn’t enough business) are taking internships for some good reasons.

First, internships allow professionals to gain experience in adjacent (nearby; close) fields, giving them a wider range of expertise (knowledge and skills).  Second, internships allow professionals to avoid gaps (empty spaces) in their resumes.  Traditionally, employers don’t like gaps in resumes because the gaps may mean that a person has had difficulty finding a job, had personal problems, or, with a lot of gaps, had difficulty keeping a job.  Employers may also see long gaps between jobs as an indication (sign) of deteriorating (becoming worse over time) skills.  Employers may be more forgiving (willing to overlook or pardon) of gaps these days (now), but as is true for college students, working in an internship also allows these professionals to show a company their skills, which may put them at the front of the line when any new jobs become available.

Internships for professionals aren’t without problems.  There are companies that try to take advantage of (behave unfairly toward someone who doesn’t have the ability to refuse) professionals willing to work as interns for free and replacing paid employees.  In fact, recognizing that this may be a problem, there are U.S. laws that say it is not legal to do that.  However, given the benefits to both employers and interns, professionals working for free is on the rise (increasing; going up).

Are internships popular in countries where you’ve lived?  What can out-of-work mid-career professionals do to make themselves more marketable (attractive to employers)?

~ Lucy

You drop out of law school. You’re a disappointment to your parents. You spend your days sitting on the couch (sofa) watching TV.  That doesn’t sound like the start of a successful business, does it?

However, it is the beginning of the unlikely road to success for Roy Choi.  Back in 1996, Roy didn’t know what he would do with his life.  Then, one day while watching the Food Network, a cable TV station devoted to (focused on) cooking and food, he got an inspiration (sudden idea).  He wanted to become a chef (professional cook).  He enrolled in a good culinary (cooking) school, and eventually worked his way up to chef at the Los Angeles Beverly Hilton Hotel, where many celebrity events take place.  After he was fired from his next job, he decided to try something different.

After cooking gourmet (high quality, made with a lot of skill) food in some of the best restaurants, he decided to take his cooking on the road — in a lunch truck.  The lunch truck is a large truck with a simple kitchen that travels from place to place to sell food.  Traditionally, in the U.S., lunch trucks sell inexpensive food, such as sandwiches and burgers, and travel to places with a lot of workers, such as near large business buildings or construction sites, where workers are doing the physical work to put up a building.  Roy wanted to turn (change; replace) that traditional lunch truck food into gourmet food.  Instead of unhealthy fast food, he would serve quick, cheap, and convenient gourmet food, and his specialty was a new type of cuisine that combined Korean and Mexican food.  From these lunch truck, he sells unusual dishes such as kimchi quesadillas and (Korean) short-rib tacos.

Soon after the Kogi trucks began traveling around Los Angeles, they became a cult hit (very popular with a small group of people).  The owners of the lunch trucks used viral media to tell people where the trucks would park and serve.  Viral media includes Twitter and Facebook, and is any type of electronic communication that can get information to a lot of people in a very short amount of time.  An announcement would go out on Twitter about the time and location of the next appearance of the truck and people would flock to (many people would move quickly to) that location.  Good food, cheap prices, cooked by a top chef — visiting these lunch trucks become the in thing (trendy; popular thing) to do.

Even though I live in Los Angeles and have heard about these lunch trucks for over a year, I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting one yet, but I hope to soon.  I want to know what Korean-Mexican food tastes like!

Are lunch trucks popular in other countries?  If not, are there special restaurants or food stalls (table or stands on the street) where people can go for a quick meal?

~ Lucy

Most people know about the Internet selling website eBay. It is a website that allows individuals and businesses to list items for sale.  Then, buyers use an auction process, where each buyer indicates how much he or she is willing to pay for an item and the person who is willing to pay the most buys the product.

eBay is probably the most well known Internet auction website, but recently, I heard about a new Internet selling site aimed at (designed for) individual sellers who are crafty (two meanings: 1) clever; 2) able to make things with one’s hands, especially decorative things).

In the past five to ten years in the U.S., there has been a resurgence of interest (increased interest after a period of not being popular) in crafts, especially knitting and crocheting. Knitting and crocheting are two methods of using yarn (thick thread) and long needles (sticks) to make things like sweaters, scarves, baby clothes, handbags, and many other things. (Crocheting (pronounced “crow-shay-ing”) uses one needle with a hook at the end, and knitting uses two needles, with no hook.)

This new selling website takes advantage of this interest in crafts and is called Etsy. All of the products listed on the website are crafts, or things that are handmade (made by one’s hands, rather than by machines in factories). On the website, you will find sweaters and scarves (long pieces of fabric you put around your neck to keep you warm), of course, but also handmade greeting cards (such as birthday cards, Christmas cards), cases for cell phones, candles, furniture, clocks, jewelry, and much more. On the site, the seller sets (determines) the price. And if you don’t find what you’re looking for on the website, there is a page where customers can ask for custom (made for a specific customer) products and the price they are willing to pay.

For many people, crafts are a hobby (activity done in one’s free time for fun), but many people are turning crafts into cash, especially in these difficult economic times. When I was little, my mother taught me how to knit, and later on, my sister taught me how to crochet. Looking at the nice quality products that other people can make on this site has really put my own efforts to shame (makes me embarrassed about the low quality of the things I’ve made).  If you ever see me with an odd-shaped (strangely-shaped) scarf or a lopsided (with one side smaller or lower than the other) hat, you’ll know I didn’t get it from Etsy. I made it myself.  I’m afraid I’m not too crafty with my crafts.

Are you crafty?  What can you make?  What would you like to learn to make?

Me?  I’ve always wanted to learn to make things with wood, perhaps to build small pieces of furniture or other practical things.  But given (considering; keeping in mind) I’m not very good with my hands, I think I better stick with (stay with) writing scripts!

~ Lucy

For several years now, there have been many reports that the music industry is losing money because people aren’t buying CDs anymore.  Instead, people are downloading music, and many do it through file-sharing (moving files from computer to computer through the Internet), so that the music companies and the artists (singers, musicians) don’t get paid.

One way that the music industry is trying to make up for (compensate for; correct; fix) this lost income is by repackaging people’s favorite artists, putting together songs and adding material in a new way.   They are counting on diehard fans (people who love something very, very much) to want everything, or at least something special, that is released for their favorite artist.  Many of these new packages are “anniversary editions,” perhaps 10, 25, or 50 years after the album/CD was first released or since the birth or death of an artist.  What do these reissues (re-releases) include?

Some very old recordings that came out in vinyl (flat, round disks played on a record player) are remastered, using today’s technology to improve the audio (sound) quality.  Other reissues have “extras,” such as never-before-heard versions of songs, commentary (spoken comments) by the artist or people involved in making the music, and remixes, which are new versions of songs created technically, often by changing the tempo (speed) or by putting them in a different order or adding parts to the songs.  Now some reissues include DVDs of live (in front of an audience) performances or interviews. These reissues and repackaged music can sell for between $100 and $200.  For diehard fans, this may be a small price to pay.

Do you have a favorite musical artist that would tempt you (make you want very much) to buy reissued or repackaged music?

~ Lucy