McCormick+Schmitz Handbook for value chain research on - PACA

Figure 10.4 : Wages and skill shortages
Homeworker
$1.20
Machinist 1
$1.65
20
Machinist 2
$2.00
1,200
Machinist 3
$2.30
500
The numbers at the right show the present shortages together with the current average
wages. The mapping suggests that there are very few positions inside the factories <strong>for</strong>
workers with ‘machinist 1’ skills. In other words, it would be extremely difficult <strong>for</strong>
homeworkers to get jobs without skill upgrading. The next level (Machinist 2) is more
promising. Jobs are more plentiful and wages are higher. At the third level, wages are
even higher, but jobs are fewer and skill requirements considerably greater. So ‘machinist
2’ seems to be the appropriate level to target.
This in<strong>for</strong>mation alone is, of course, not enough. The <strong>research</strong>er will need to raise other
questions to see the feasibility of homeworkers actually getting those jobs and to assess
the costs of the proposed skill upgrading. Since our purpose here was simply to show how
the mapping can be used to set the stage <strong>for</strong> further work, we leave the reader to finish the
story.
Let us turn from skill upgrading to transport. Suppose your concern is that transport
bottlenecks are causing problems <strong>for</strong> homeworkers. Sometimes deliveries are late; at
other times drivers arrive be<strong>for</strong>e a consignment has been completed. To understand the
problem better, you may want to develop a map that shows the routes and gives the
frequencies of early and late arrivals at different points. This map can then be used as the
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