Demystification of the most popular labor myths. Cappelli tells the story from the general perspective, usually of the employers who make claims about labor conditions, and then explains the actual empirical reason for the supposed problems. The story from employers, whether the blame on education or the skills of the labor force, are heard more often as the employers have the capacity to be loud in their claims, but that does not make them right. As this book shows, the supposed problems of the labor force are actually created by the very employers who claim those problems as true. Employers unwittingly but purposefully create the conditions for the failure to acquire the right employees.

Going from supply, demand, skill expectations, education and training, Cappelli covers the labor issues from various vantage points. Employers want the candidate with skills, but claim a skill gap when their offered wage is not accepted by the candidates with skills they need. Employers seem to think that schools and those wanting employment can guess precisely which tasks and skills are needed in the future.

Students in fact do major in fields which have a demand for, but cannot get the require experience because each job requires prior experience. School does not matter but employers, as their surveys shows that the school skills are pretty low in what they are seeking, but still require huge expenditures on education. Blaming education and schools for the lack of employee skills even though the skills cannot be learned in school and can be learned on site with a bit of training. Setting applicant requires at such a granular level that many of the positions that have a vacancy require a similar prior title, even thought the title is specific to each employer and are not generic. The skill gap can be narrowed if the employers train the employees, but employers claim that costs of training are too high without knowing the cost of the keeping a vacancy.

Due to the cooperative nature of work, the value of each employee is not easy to determine unlike the costs of operations. This book shows that the skill gap is more imaginary than not coming from employers unable to fill positions due to seeking an unrealistic perfect candidate. There is a dig problem with the way employers find the right employees. Cappelli pushes for apprenticeships as the solution to the pretentious skill gap. A quick and easy read with depth makes this book a really good source for employers to look for solutions to the labor problem.
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Finally an (un)employment book that's helpful. The author does a good job explaining where the obstacles lie for both employers seeking to fill open positions and for job-seekers trying to get a foot in the door. ( )

I read this to see if it had any insights for me in looking for a good job. Actually the book was addressed to HR departments about how to address the skills gap. Essentially Cappelli argues for more on the job training. Not a bad book, but not helpful for my purposes. ( )