And the Manufacturers Come Marching Back...

The past month has been filled with questions on the growth of the manufacturing industry in the United States.  First, corporations were making claims to bring back manufacturing.  Many economists didn’t buy this.  Then, the reports were released of the 50,000 jobs added in January.  Now, more talk by large corporations claim they plan to bring more jobs back to America. (Reuters)

CEOs from Boeing and GE told Reuters that they have witnessed overexpansion within the global economy, and the competitive labor costs in the United States matched with the required technology costs has allowed for plenty of growth in the future for the American economy.

A completely separate point was made by the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte: 600,000 jobs exist, however, the supply of skilled workers to fill the positions is lacking.  Executives claim to be looking for students educated in the fields of science, math, technologies, and engineering.

The statement makes me wonder the truth about the barriers to hiring for the machinists positions.  Tons of students are coming out of four year universities, and I believe that the difficulty doesn’t come from the lack of qualified job seekers, but the difficulty in matching these candidates to the specific job position.

A prime example for skill matching can be seen on the campus of the University of Oregon.  There is a willingness to pay that many Oregonians feel is far too high when it comes to leaving the state of Oregon.  While there may be positions outside of the state of Oregon, students fresh out of college still want to seek positions in Portland. 

Another problem comes into play is the idea of working in a manufacturing position.  The requirements would surely require one to be working long hours in a factory, and from my personal experiences, the current generation has formed quite a bias towards this work.  With videos and educational reports over the years telling us of the terrible conditions found in factories, whether it is the accidents or the strain that these positions may place on a person, the costs do not outweigh the salary and employment. 

I believe that if these problems can be solved, there is a small amount of growth that can be seen the manufacturing industry in the United States, and the currently vacant slots will be filled up once the proper candidates are matched with the positions.  But as I have stated in the past, the uncertainty towards corporations striving for cheaper variable costs will always exist, and the long term sustainability in manufacturing will surely be tested.

References:

1. Malone, Scott.  “After ‘Lemming’ Exodus, Manufacturers Look to U.S.”. Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/us-usa-manufacturing-onshoring-idUSTRE81C1B720120213