Lack of skilled workers stalling economy.

• Position: Job Market

Is a worker shortage about to stall the economy? What impact will that have on the nation's restrictive immigration laws? While some have blamed the economy for lower-than-expected payroll growth at this stage of the recovery, a survey by the global outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., Chicago, suggests that a lack of skilled workers may be the real reason behind the tepid job creation and could prove to be the most significant threat to the nation's long-term economic health.

Job creation has been solid over the last year or so, with the economy adding about 2,000,000 positions through May, according to the payroll survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, average job gains of 164,500 per month have failed to impress critics who note the job growth of the late 1990s, which averaged 272,000 per month between September, 1997, and May, 2000.

"These critics like to point to sluggishness in the economy, but the problem may in fact be a shortage of people who are able to find a place in the increasingly challenging and technology-oriented workplace. The survey findings may foreshadow what is to come for...