that old chestnut

Firstly my heart goes out to the Dell employees facing the chop. I find out next week whether I still have a job as the global company that employees me has put every developer it employees in the UK at risk so it "can meet it synergy targets" ! Therefore in all likelyhood this time next week I'll be trying to figure out what what to do next.

I'd like to take issue with the author's remark :

"They know hi-tech assembly line jobs are just not hi-tech enough. Having a semi-skilled workforce doesn't cut it any more - it has to be fully-skilled, to degree level."

Pray what degree should we all have studied or should we go and study. Clearly not IT in any shape or form as jobs are being shipped outside the EU at a rate of knots (or they are being done here by non-EU staff shipped in with government sanctioned work permits and visas). Manufacturing is on its knees - even Nissan , BMW and Toyota with their hyper-efficient plan and desirable product are cutting back production , shifts and jobs. Pharmaceutical research is being done in India and elsewhere. I could go on, but I can't be bothered anymore. I'm tired of hearing talking heads going on about "moving up the value chain" and "up-skilling the workforce " without any evidence that they have actually thought their arguement through.