As the national unemployment rate approaches double digits, some specialized jobs are going unfilled, according to a report from the Associated Press (AP). Recruiters in healthcare and high-tech fields especially say they are unable to find qualified candidates to fill positions in such areas as energy research, nursing, and engineering. AP says the problem stems from a lack of very specific skills and experience in available workers, particularly those who lost jobs in manufacturing industries. "Workers are going to have to find not just a new company, but a new industry," says Sophia Koropeckyj, managing director of Moody's Economy.com, quoted by AP. "A 50-year-old guy who has been screwing bolts into the side of a car panel is not going to be able to become a healthcare administrator overnight." Jobs that are going unfilled include accounts, actuaries, data analysts, physical therapists, and electrical engineers, as well as those in specialized fields like biotechnology. Koropeckyj says the speed with which people have been laid off and the length of time it takes to retrain has created what she calls "this army of the unemployed" without the necessary skills to find new jobs.
