CBS News, August 11, “Skilled Labor Shortage Frustrates Employers“:

(CBS)  Job openings at businesses fell to 2.54 million in June from 2.6 million in May, meaning there is now five unemployed workers on average for every job opening.

There’s a brighter spot in manufacturing, where some companies are looking for workers, CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports.

On a quick tour of her family’s factory, Linda Fillingham proudly shows off employees making the metal parts that go into some of America’s biggest machines.

What’s holding her machine shop back isn’t a shortage of work. Instead, it’s a shortage of workers, whom she’s willing to pay $13 to $18 an hour.

That’s not to conflate the importance of a skilled workforce with the issue of attracting people with advanced engineering, scientific, programming or mathematical training as noted below.

The latter is more akin to this April CBS story, “New Nuke Plants Face Skilled Labor Shortage.”

(CBS News always seems interested in these workforce topics, which we appreciate.)

With oil prices at record high levels Americans are more eager than ever to find affordable, alternative fuels. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), a guest on this week’s edition of “America’s Business with Mike Hambrick” radio program, says nuclear power will be an important part of our nation’s future energy supply.

Clyburn’s state is already pro-nuclear. More than half of South Carolina’s electricity came from nuclear power plants in 2004, according to the Energy Information Administration. “I do believe that if we are going to…ever wean ourselves off of foreign oil we’re going to have to do it with nuclear in the mix,” Clyburn says.

Commerce Undersecretary Chris Padilla is responsible for helping formulate America’s international trade policy. He will appear on America’s Business to talk about why a pending trade agreement with Colombia is important to the U.S. economy and job creation and why lawmakers are wrong to block passage of that deal.

Our radio program will also host one of the biggest supporters of free trade in Congress – Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT). The National Association of Manufacturers recently honored Matheson for his unwavering support of free trade. Like Padilla, Matheson says Congress should approve the Colombia deal. The agreement will open that market to American goods and services and help support an important South American ally, he says.

“We should be rewarding Colombia for the progress it has made – the move to democracy, the move to a secure situation in that country, the move to respect human rights,” he says. “It’s been such a great success story.”

Who will presumptive presidential nominees Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain pick as running mates? National Association of Manufacturers Executive Vice President Jay Timmons, who has been deeply involved in the national political scene for years, will give us his take on who could be vice president.

In our regular segments, Renee Giachino of American Justice Partnership gives us the latest on tort reform and commentator Hank Cox recalls “The Way It Was.” And our program will close with “The Last Word” from the National Association of Manufacturers President Gov. John Engler.

For more about “America’s Business with Mike Hambrick” and to listen to the program online, please click here. And for video highlights and more, check out http://www.americasbusiness.org.

This year is halfway over. So this week “America’s Business with Mike Hambrick” will take a look back at some of our favorite guests so far in 2008.

We’ll re-air excerpts of our June interview with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich about his push to help America find alternative energy. Gingrich is now general chairman of American Solutions for Winning the Future, a bipartisan group that is trying to solve some of our nation’s most pressing issues.

The group’s online petition asking citizens whether they want more oil drilling has attracted more than 1.2 million signatures. “We believe that the American people deserve to have the least expensive energy possible in an environmentally sound way and in a way that strengthens national security,” Gingrich said.

Europe is way ahead of the United States when it comes to developing nuclear energy. This week you can listen to our February interview with Tennessee Republican Rep. Zach Wamp. Wamp say the United States should be the No. 1 nation when it comes to developing nuclear and other alternative energy sources.

The news media and the government tend to fan up hysteria about issues ranging from asbestos to global warming. Back in April we talked about this phenomenon with Christopher Booker and Richard North, authors of the book “Scared to Death.” We’ll play some of that interview.

“America’s Business” will also re-air parts of a February interview on the state of the nation’s manufacturing sector with Assistant Commerce Secretary William “Woody” Sutton. And we’ll take you back to January when we talked with NBC Universal General Counsel Rick Cotton about a campaign to battle intellectual property theft. Cotton is chairman of the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy.

In our regular segment, Renee Giachino of American Justice Partnership gives us the latest on tort reform. And the National Association of Manufacturers President Gov. John Engler will close the program with “The Last Word.”

For more information on “America’s Business with Mike Hambrick” check out www.americasbusiness.org.