Despite China's Might, US Factories No. 1

[The Straight Story]

Despite China's Might, US Factories No. 1
U.S. Manufacturers Cranked Out Nearly $1.7 Trillion In Goods In 2009


WASHINGTON -- U.S. factories are closing. American manufacturing jobs are reappearing overseas. China's industrial might is growing each year.

And it might seem as if the United States doesn't make world-class goods as well as some other nations.

"There's no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains, or the new factories that manufacture clean energy products," President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union policy address last week.

Yet America remains by far the No. 1 manufacturing country. It out-produces No. 2 China by more than 40 percent. U.S. manufacturers cranked out nearly $1.7 trillion in goods in 2009, according to the United Nations.

http://www.kptv.com/money/26671499/detail.html

[pampango]

1. "The U.S. remains No. 1 in global manufacturing ... but China is catching up."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jLHeirS4dwEqfcKyWUMEleL5wpMQ?docId=e287f8f042b347ef98a365b0996e4b8d

The United States has lost nearly 8 million factory jobs since manufacturing employment peaked at 19.6 million in mid-1979. U.S. manufacturers have ranked near the top of world rankings in productivity gains over the past three decades.

What's changed is that U.S. manufacturers have abandoned products with thin profit margins, like consumer electronics, toys and shoes. They've ceded that sector to China, Indonesia and other emerging nations with low labor costs. Instead, American factories have seized upon complex and expensive goods requiring specialized labor: industrial lathes, computer chips, fighter jets, health care products.

The U.S. remains No. 1 in global manufacturing, accounting for 18 percent of global manufacturing output in 2008. But China is catching up. Its share of manufacturing output jumped from about 6 percent in 1998 to 15 percent in 2008.

Centerline CEO Dietzen says she isn't fazed by Chinese manufacturing. Some of her customers have placed orders with Chinese companies, she says, only to return, frustrated, to her company. Chinese factories want mainly big orders. And they demand lots of time to fill them. Dietzen says her clients are "finding when they get their parts back from China, they're not always what they want. So we end up doing the work anyway."

[Newest Reality]

2. Remember Automation?

There was once some significant concern about the impact of automation on employment. I find it interesting that the subject does not come-up often these days.

While the outsourcing, (and cheap, prison labor here: insourcing) factors are the biggest issue, the impact of automation is still with us and it is even improving and increasing from what I've seen.

I'm not totally against realistic automation, it is just that we have nothing in place -- an equitable, economic alternative -- to its impact on those who need to work in order to survive. Automation will continue to impact employment and increase its scope, however our leaders and economic controllers are not likely to share the collective wealth and results barring some form of revolution in thinking and perspective.

[jwirr]

3. That is a very good point - we are machine intensive and they are

labor intensive. When the machines do it for us we suffer through unemployment. Back to the old argument.

[Statistical]

4. You nailed it. US industrial output is UP compared to a decade ago.

No that isn't a typo. US industrial output is UP. However the rate of growth has been SLOWER than the rate of productivity increases and as a result employment is declining.