Canada Has a Dire Shortage of Brain Surgeons

Yes... this is what I've heard...

The Minister of Health has confirmed that thousands of open positions for brain surgeons are going unfilled in Canada. Hospitals across the country have been desperately seeking qualified surgeons to relocate and practice in their area but are getting no inquiries or interest. The Minister says that he plans to open Canada up to a new, streamlined immigration program for brain surgeons willing to relocate in Canada. It is hoped that this will fill the dire shortage.

It is reported some current brain surgeons in Canada are skeptical. They point out that even getting brain surgeons from countries like China and Vietnam to relocate and work for $2/hour will be very, very hard. They believe that the Minister of Health doesn't understand that even if $2 looks like a princely sum in China or Vietnam, once the surgeon is in Canada and practicing, that salary will quickly look unjust and far too small.

OK... I'm pulling you leg. But I worked in high tech for years and annually there would be protestations by industry spokesmen that there weren't enough trained engineers and computer scientists to fill positions in Canada (and the US). But knowledgeable insiders pointed out that the industry was finding it hard to recruit because what they offered to pay was substantially below what a trained professional demanded for their expertise.

Nothing ever changes. Here is a post by Dean Baker on a "shortage of skilled workers in the US" that provoked by bit of humour:

The NYT reported Thursday that manufacturers in Cleveland were having difficulty getting skilled workers. It turned out that the problem seemed to be that the managers interviewed in the article were not willing to pay the market wage for skilled workers, offering jobs that pay just $15-$20 an hour.

While the NYT may have been wrong about the shortage of skilled manufacturing workers in Cleveland, there does appear to be a shortage of skilled economics writers at the Washington Post.

The moral of the story? Don't take a newspaper article at face value. Always ask if there might be a hidden agenda or a skewed assumption behind the story that makes it less than honest "reporting".