The pending Bakken shale oil bust west of Minneapolis is going to set a lot of skilled people loose.

An owner of a construction company ecently hired four entry-level carpenters. He agreed to the wages they asked for — about $14 per hour — plus health insurance, and he was willing to train them.

But when it came time for work, they didn’t show up.

and so pays quite well -- is doing great. Residential carpentry, which is what this boo-hoo guy is in:

...is having trouble finding workers because a lot of these guys went where the money is -- North Dakota oil fields. "Defending against commercial work" means battling to get skilled employees. Commercial construction pays. When residential pays, they won't have trouble finding guys.

and, I don't think that unions even consider small business.

Speaking of small business:

Several weeks ago I was listening to a presentation promoting local business. And Saturday after "Black Friday" was promoted as "buying local." In the 12 years that we've lived in this town we purchased merchandise - major - from three local businesses that eventually went out of business. One of the merchandise malfunctioned. I am sure that it could have been easily fixed, but we could not find any other place that would even look at it, even though many were selling a similar product. Would not even come to collect it in exchange for a new one.

As I was reading this story I was thinking of a small remodeling company that we've patronizing many times and I was hoping that they can still find workers. We recently got a Holiday card from them, so I hope that all is well..

Just as aside..

If a guy's running a margin so close he can only offer $14/hour for skilled trades, he's going to be in trouble awfully quickly.

the Local Home Builders went nuts over all those over paid Union Tradesmen and off it went from there. Anyone whom lived or worked the Twin City Market area,well remembers what Dunwoody Institute contributed to the local training and skill set building we had. Seen first hand how the politics of and around residential non Union Contractors and Real Estate Sales people worked the system to gain and expand their business model. Twin Cities was for the most part solid Union Contractors,when Arnie Carlson became Governor,all bets were off. Fly by night Contractors came in like fly's on cow pies. The running joke was if you had a pickup truck and a hammer you could call yourself a Contractor. The License process became a joke. No insurance or bonds required,and it showed in the quality of the finished product. We would receive appraisal orders on some of this junk,and making long story short,the buyers would just be livid when we presented the final product as to what we would discover in the appraisal work product.

The real kicker was the change in Unemployment Insurance coverage in Minnesota. Many Tradesmen would be on laid off during down turns or weather related issues,but,you were eligible for fifty two weeks of compensation provided you worked the required work weeks prior to layoff. Never had to worry about were your next meal was coming from. Plus there was a ready able and qualified work force to jump in and get the jobs done. Remember this story is coming out of the Glenn Taylor owned Star and Tribune. Any newspaper that employs the Rethug Party cast offs has to be questioned.