"Compared to1990, the total value of U.S. manufacturing output, adjusted for inflation, was up by 75 percent in 2010 -- despite a drop caused by the Great Recession."
That is right, our manufacturing output increased 75 percent between 1990 and 2010. It's not that we don't manufacture anything in the country, its that most of it is automated, making for precious few jobs. So all those "manufacturing" jobs shipped to China are largely illusion, becuase even if we shipped them all back, the jobs would largely go to machines, not people.
Further, our output oupaced China's output by 46 percent and over the last two decades, our worldwide share of manufacturing output has remained stable, according to the article cited above.
If you are upset about the status of the manufacturing sector, your problem is with automation - robots replacing workers - not outsourcing or the Chinese and with the overall growth in the economy, which has seen various sectors outpace manufacturing, making it a smaller percentage of the overall economy. Its no different than we began growing more food than we needed and started buying more manufactured stuff as a result. We are richer now than ever before, and thus spend more money on services than physical things.
Indeed, as the Philadelphia Inquirer recently reported, Philadelphia-area manufacturing companies actually face a shortage of skilled workers. That's right, the problem, at least locally, isn't that there are too few jobs to go around, but that there are too few workers to fill the existing jobs. Maybe that's because of the (mistaken) drum beat of how bad manufacturing is doing.
To the extent that it seems we don't manufacture anything in this country its because what we do manufacture is mostly big, important things where quality and not price is the most important factor - airline engines, big machines, automobiles, etc. - and not consumer products.
*What? Don't your friends sit around discussing economics, the job market or outsourcing?
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