The Wrongologist

What’s
Wrong Today:

The Wall Street Journal reported
yesterday that  there is a shortage of airline
pilots. The reason is the rest of the story: (emphasis by the Wrongologist)

The WSJ reports that:

In fact, Republic
Airways Holdings Inc., one of the nation’s largest regional carriers, said it
would have to remove 27 of its 243 aircraft from operation because it couldn’t find enough qualified pilots. While regional
carriers are a key link in the US air-travel system, the big airlines, (whose
pilots’ salaries are much higher), outsource about half of their domestic flights
to these smaller partners in order to save money. The big carriers set the flight
schedules and fares, sell the tickets and buy the fuel, which leaves their
regional counterparts little room to raise wages.

This
structure has prevailed for years, but the WSJ
points out that federal rules implemented in August have brought matters to a
head by increasing the minimum flight experience required for most
commercial-airline pilots to 1,500 hours from 250 hours. The new law has
sharply increased the time and expense required to become a commercial pilot,
rendering today’s starting wages even less attractive and crimping the supply of would-be aviators.

Training
to become a commercial pilot can cost more than $100,000. To get the additional
flying time they now need, pilots can work as instructors or pay for the
additional time. Miami-based Eagle Jet International Inc. charges trainees $57 an hour to be co-pilots on its cargo flights,
which are under a different regulatory regime than passenger operations.

The WSJ
brings us a human interest story as part of their report:

Here is a
thought experiment: Let’s say these guys or gals making minimum wage for a
regional airline make 600 flights a year, (2 flights/day) carrying an average
of 60 passengers each, or 36,000 passengers for the year.

That means
the pilot makes about 42 cents per
passenger flown. Now think about what you pay for the average flight…

Far too
often, skilled worker shortages are blamed on the low quality of our workforce
or our education system. 

There are serious
barriers to receiving a quality education for many in our country, but there probably
is an ample supply of Americans who would like to be airplane pilots. The problem is, if you need to hire a truly
skilled worker, you can’t expect to pay them something close to the minimum
wage. 

Or, if you
do pay them minimum wage, do the rest of us a favor and don’t go around
complaining about how no matter how hard you look, you just can’t find the
workers you need. That’s a fallacy that has served US corporate interests for
decades, enabling US businesses to slash wages, hire immigrants under the H1-B program,
or move jobs offshore.

Most
Americans understand that they can no longer afford to underwrite the cost of a
quality higher education in return for receiving low starting wages. Most Americans
have to take whatever job they can get, knowing that the whole “upward
mobility” thing is over. Most politicians keep pushing the idea that we need to start training Americans for the skilled jobs of today. Um, like airline pilots?

Maybe
the FAA should require each airline to post the salary of the pilot on the cockpit
door for each flight.

Then
customers could decide if they want to fly on a plane piloted by somebody
making the minimum wage.