On the bluster of fools who think the unemployment problem is an issue of skills mismatch.

Paul Krugman wrote the other day in his blog, about how Minnesota Fed president Narayana Kocherlakota made an alarmingly off-base comment about the state of the unemployed:

"The Fed does not have a means to transform construction workers into manufacturing workers."

Meaning of course, that unemployment is being driven by a skills mismatch. Unfortunately, a comment I wrote up didn't get posted. In it, I suggested that it was ludicrous to think that a skills mismatch was to blame. In fact, the housing market's toll has added to the immobility of people to move to where the jobs are.

If you just think for a moment about it, are you going to pick up your belongings and risk a move, when you have no idea if the nation is about to double-dip, and without any guarantees as to your length of employment? Can you take a loss on your home and move? I think most people are not willing to take such high risks, and are staying home, hoping the economy recovers and are willing instead to take no- or low-skilled jobs, even at a major reduction in pay, just to lower their risks.

Well, turns out I wasn't alone in my assessment. NPR's got a story on how devalued homes are preventing many homeowners from picking up and moving to where the jobs are.

Silly me...how could I possibly think that I might know something that a Fed president didn't?