Back in the early days of radio, the pioneering inventors determined that it was not enough to simply gather radio signals with ever larger antenna. They brought radio to the masses with the invention of the triode. This device amplified the small signal at the antenna to a level that a user could easily hear. The amount of amplification was measured as gain. The early triodes had gains of 10. The broadcast triods had gains many times that amount delivering broadcast powers of 50,000 watts. Even in today’s transistor world, we still use triodes to generate the final gain needed for broadcasting.
Arthur G McKee was the author of many of the patents that created the golden age of steel production in North America. He started an engineering firm, Arthur G McKee and Co, to gain from that talent. He needed to gather others to accomplish that gain. My dad, the son of immigrants, attended Fenn College an engineering school across the street from Mc Kee Company. Arthur worked with this school to find and train the best talent to become his workforce. An unwritten but understood bargain occurred between the selected talent like my dad and Arthur. Arthur transferred his engineering knowledge and paid professional salaries. My dad remained loyal to the company helping it make excellent profits for his entire career. Many of the colleges got their start this way. Fenn College is now Cleveland State University. With 25,000 students it has gotten away from training its graduates for a profitable lifetime.

Now the millennials are entering the workforce. The old formula where employers would see a gain by investing in employee training has evaporated. In the short term we will experience a mismatch until a new pattern emerges that insures that a gain accrues to the people who invest in education. The thing that we know for sure is that the marketplace will reward the players who have the skills that are wanted.