The Louisiana Oil and Gas Association is reporting on plans for a rally next Wednesday at the Lafayette Cajundome, the Rally for Economic Survival, protesting the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico that is costing jobs just as the region needs for more economic activity and employment.

Don Briggs, president of the association, commented, “I have never seen so many people so focused and dedicated to a cause. I hope the entire nation will see the large crowd we assemble at the Cajundome, hear the words of our diverse and distinguished speakers and realize how important lifting the moratorium is for the entire country. More importantly, I hope President Obama will see the people in the Cajundome – representing all walks of life – and hear their message to lift the moratorium immediately.”

One of the speakers will be Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has an op-ed in today’s Washington Post, “Ban on deep-water drilling adds insult to injury“:

[The] federal government unwisely chose to add insult to injury by decreeing a moratorium on deepwater drilling in the gulf. This ill-advised and ill-considered moratorium, which a federal judge called “arbitrary” and “capricious,” creates a second disaster for our economy, throwing thousands of hardworking folks out of their jobs and causing real damage to many families. Now this federal policy risks killing 20,000 more jobs and will result in a loss of $65 million to $135 million in wages each month….

Let’s be clear: This moratorium will do nothing to clean up the Gulf of Mexico, and it is already doing great harm to many hardworking citizens. The effects will extend well beyond Louisiana. Since the moratorium was announced, America has already lost two rigs to foreign countries. More drilling companies are negotiating right now to work elsewhere. Every time we decrease our level of production, we make America more dependent on foreign sources of energy.

Diamond Offshore Drilling has announced the move of rigs to off the coast of the Congo, Africa, where the oil it produces could wind up being shipped back to the United States.

The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association offers more details on the economic impact.

• Each drilling platform averages 90 to 140 employees at any one time (2 shifts per day), and 180 to 280 for 2 2-week shifts
• Each E&P [exploration and production] job supports 4 other positions
• Therefore, 800 to 1400 jobs per idle rig platform are at risk
• Wages for those jobs average $1,804/weekly; potential for lost wages is huge, over $5 to $10 million for 1 month—per platform.
• Wages lost could be over $165 to $330 million/month for all 33 platforms

From The Associated Press, “Labor agency: La. needs more 2-year college grads“:

BATON ROUGE, La. –Suggestions from a Jindal administration official Monday that Louisiana has a “surplus” of four-year college degrees rankled members of a commission looking at ways to overhaul the state’s public college systems.

Curt Eysink, executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission, the state’s labor department, told the commission that Louisiana needs more students enrolled in — and graduating from — vocational training and community college programs.

Eysink said there are more graduates with four-year college degrees than the state can employ in their fields while the state has a shortage of workers needed for skilled labor jobs. He presented occupational forecasting data that showed the top growth jobs projected for the state included ticket-takers, home health aides, retail salespersons and nurses.

Not sure how that list of jobs in the last sentence was selected. You probably don’t need a two-year degree to be a ticket-taker.

But Eysink and the commission have identified real workforce trends that are affecting students and manufacturers nationwide. Skilled jobs, the kind you find more and more in high-tech manufacturing, often do not require a four-year degree. Two years degrees, vocational certification and apprenticeships can serve students with training that not only leads them into well-compensated careers but also aligns with their individual skills and interests.

In the story, Arits Terrell, chairman of the Louisiana Board of Regents asks, “Can you ever have too many four-year degrees?”

Yes! Of course! In fact, AEI scholar Charles Murray wrote a valuable book on the issue, “Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality.” In a 2007 Wall Street Journal op-ed, “What’s Wrong With Vocational School?,” Murray anticipated Chairman Terrell’s argument:

Large numbers of those who are intellectually qualified for college also do not yearn for four years of college-level courses. They go to college because their parents are paying for it and college is what children of their social class are supposed to do after they finish high school. They may have the ability to understand the material in Economics 1 but they do not want to. They, too, need to learn to make a living–and would do better in vocational training.

Combine those who are unqualified with those who are qualified but not interested, and some large proportion of students on today’s college campuses–probably a majority of them–are looking for something that the four-year college was not designed to provide.

Terrell’s comments could well reflect a common point of view about higher education. To many state officials and people who earn their paychecks from a university system, students equal income. But yes, you can have too many four-year degrees, especially when the degrees serve neither the student nor the demands of the economy.

See also:

• Louisiana Postsecondary Education Review Commission homepage.
• Kansas City Star, “Manufacturing summit looks at shortage of skilled workers.”
• Gov. Jindal’s Aug. 11 remarks to the Louisiana Postsecondary Education Review Commission.