Industry Insights

Last week, I was disappointed as I read in the New York Times that the number of children in the United States who are excelling in mathematics is in decline. It seems that American culture does not highly value talent in math and as a result, many students, and especially girls, are not motivated to achieve in this discipline.My own 13 year old daughter, Becky, decided to drop out of the chess club this year, after having competed nationally and internationally since she was in the first grade. “It is just not cool, Mom.” But I am continuing to insist on participation in after school math enrichment through the local Kumon branch. And she is dutifully rising early every morning to get to her 7:15 geometry class at the high school. Luckily, I still have some influence!As a recruiter for positions requiring quantitative skills, I am very aware of the acute shortage of analytical talent here in the United States.Off-shoring these jobs resulted because of the inability to satisfy all the demand (and I did not see any negative impact to salaries here as a result). The demand continues to grow and it sounds like the supply will increasingly come from foreign sources.

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