The last jobs report from December 2011 showed us that manufacturing jobs increased by 20,000. It is still down 40 percent from pre-recession levels, but many are convinced that this is the start of a United States manufacturing revival. Furthermore, the United States manufacturing industry is faring much better than the rest of the world’s.
According to the Financial Times, the United States has added more manufacturing jobs since the beginning of 2010 than any other developed country. In fact, if you added all of the manufacturing jobs created by the rest of the Group of Seven developed countries together, the U.S. would still be on top. Only two other countries in that group – Germany and Canada – have increased their manufacturing employment at all. Even though the numbers aren’t exactly where they need to be, having the lead in manufacturing employment is a great advantage for our country and helps in raising the hopes of the unemployed and employed alike.
Looking at the numbers, the United States manufacturing workforce lost about 2.3 million jobs between the years of 2007 and 2009. Since then, we have added 328,000 jobs. Clearly, we haven’t fully recovered, but all signs show that we are on our way. Compared to Germany, the United States has increased the workforce by .4 percent more and 1 percent more than Canada. Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy and France have have all decreased their manufacturing workforce significantly. Mark Zandi, the chief economist of Moody Analytics, was quoted saying, “I think we are at an inflection point for manufacturing in the U.S. Employment in the industry has been in decline for decades but it is now at a point where it is going from quite strong to stronger.”
This increase has prompted companies such as Ford, Caterpillar, General Electric and Otis Elevator to announce job creation plans in the United States rather than other countries. Some companies have even decided to bring their business back to the United States after previously conducting their business in countries such as Mexico and China. This is all great news for the U.S. and boosts the confidence of employers, workers and consumers alike. “All these factors are coming together: the stars are aligning to favor US manufacturing,” said Mark Perry of The University of Michigan-Flint in the Financial Times.
SOURCE: Financial Times in print
IMAGE: Courtesy of Electro-Intro
Add comment