Erstwhile site selection and economic development consultant Dean Barber makes a compelling argument in his blog this week on the state of manufacturing and manufacturing jobs in the U.S. While manufacturing investment is gaining momentum, Barber argues, that is not translating into a resurgence in manufacturing employment. In fact, the two might be mutually exclusive.
“Here’s the kicker — most experts don’t see a big burst of new manufacturing jobs taking place despite all the hopium about a “manufacturing renaissance” in this country. That’s because to some degree people, or at least most people, are becoming functionally obsolete for advanced manufacturing. Technological change has resulted in the automation of so many functions in the manufacturing process, in which software-driven machines have essentially become substitutes, not complements, to people on the factory floor.”
In the short run, the numbers suggest manufacturing jobs are making a comeback. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary numbers, the manufacturing sector ending 2013 at slightly more than 12 million jobs, up about six-tenths of a percent from 2012. But while the sector has added more than 557,000 jobs since the 2009 recession, it is still 800,00 jobs below where it was in 2008 and more than 2.3 million jobs below what it was 10 years ago.
As Barber notes, the manufacturing investment being made today is less about strong backs and more about strong machinery, highly sophisticated, technology-driven machinery that requires fewer humans to be a part of the process.
The irony is, even with the the lower demand for labor, manufacturing jobs could still go begging, in part because of the shortage of workers with the skills needed to replace workers who are nearing retirement age.
Harry Moser, founder of the Reshoring Institute and the chief apostle of the U.S. manufacturing renaissance, sees workforce development as the key challengerelated to reshoring and manufacturing in development in general, and he is vocal in calling for more initiatives to encourage students toward manufacturing careers, from creation of more STEM programs to establishing more partnerships between industry and schools.
The Charlotte USA region , for example, has the unique Apprentice 2000 program that provides four years of technical training for students beginning when they are high school juniors and leads to an associate’s degree in mechatronics technology from a local community college. The program is supported by a number of industries in the region that provide hands-on training and hire graduates after they complete their degrees.
Another opportunity to develop more manufacturing jobs is through encouragement of local supply chains. Moser says economic development organizations can help influence that by having meaningful conversations with original equipment manufacturers in their region that offshore production and educate them on the economic sense of utilizing contract manufacturers and components makers in their communities.
Barber’s insight may be correct. U.S. manufacturing may be able to sustain its momentum without manufacturing jobs returning to their levels of even a decade earlier. But by tackling the workforce issues, creating new avenues of opportunity and leveraging the power of partnership, manufacturing jobs can remain a vital – and even growing – part of the nation’s economic prosperity.
via:http://businessclimate.com/blog/2014/02/manufacturing-jobs-fewer-humans-on-the-factory-floor/
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