U.S. Manufacturing: The ace of trump in a global economy

Any person who publicly states, “That for the most part, we don’t manufacture anything anymore in this country,” truly lacks an understanding of the magnitude of American manufacturing, not to mention the impact manufacturing has on our economic system.

As Donald Trump continues to drop casual comments about running for President of the United States, it becomes more and more evident that his knowledge about U.S. manufacturing is questionable, at best. What Mr. Trump and all the other doom and gloom know-nothings fail to realize is that American manufacturing leads the world in output. In fact, according to the United Nations’ comprehensive database of international economic data, which is the most recent data published, China’s output for 2009 amounted to $1.48 trillion. On-the-other-hand, America’s manufacturing output in 2009 was $2.15 trillion, approximately 46% greater.

The decline, demise, and death of American manufacturing are being greatly exaggerated, and apparently becoming a popular mantra of the ill informed. A recent Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor poll, focusing on how Americans view U.S. workforce competitiveness and the American manufacturing sector as a key driver of job creation, found that only 20% of those surveyed believed that the United States has the strongest economy in the world. Nearly half (47%) believe China possesses the world’s strongest economy. Worse yet, 58% of those polled blame the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs on companies that shifted jobs overseas to lower labor costs and increase profits, and two-thirds (67%) say that U.S. corporate outsourcing has played a major role in the recent high unemployment rate.

This poll is an eye-opener in the sense that individuals have developed an erroneous perception of U.S. manufacturing because of comments made by influential people, such as Donald Trump. Then, taking these comments as gospel, people rationalize that purely through greed, U.S. manufacturers have gone offshore, causing the elimination of jobs  Yes, manufacturing has lost jobs and plenty of them. However, what Trump, as well as other prominent figures, including union leaders, fails to tell the American people is that the true downward spiral in manufacturing jobs is due to productivity.

Yes, this may be a hard pill to swallow. However, the numbers prove that output per U.S. worker is three times what it was in 1980 and twice as high as it was in 1990. Productivity is up because of technology. Not long ago, a complex part would require four to five machines to complete. Today, that same part can be completely machined in one operation and with fewer man-hours. In addition, these same complex parts can be machined in volume, over an extended period of time and without any machinist present, because of advancements in automation, especially robotics.

U.S. manufacturing is far from dead. The truth of the matter is that because of technology the U.S. manufacturing sector is alive and strong. Those employed in manufacturing today possess higher skill levels, are more productive, and better compensated than in the past. So, as all the negative talk continues about manufacturing being a thing of the past, we can boast that manufacturing remains the ace of trump in a global economy.
 

tgrasson@gie.net