When the shift changes in the late afternoon, thousands of Haitians stream out from under an arched entrance labeled “Parc Industriel Metropolitain” toward the traffic-choked streets of Port-au-Prince. Among them is David, a thin 32-year-old man in a short-sleeve dress shirt and slacks, who works at one of the many garment assembly factories here, sewing pants for export to the United States. Through a Creole interpreter, David says the way he and his co-workers are treated is pa bon—not right.
Yet a lot of high-powered people with a stake in Haitian affairs think jobs like David’s represent the answer to Haiti’s problems. The U.S. State Department, the Inter-American Development Bank and the government of Haitian President Michel Martelly recently pulled together
more than $300 million in post-earthquake subsidies to create another industrial park just like this one but in northeast Haiti, with Korean textile manufacturer Sae-A as its anchor tenant. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton both spoke at the park’s opening ceremony, hailing it as the centerpiece of U.S. efforts to help Haiti recover from the devastating 2010 quake. Secretary Clinton echoed President Martelly’s mantra that Haiti “is open for business.”
As the Haitian plant of Sae-A began filling its first order–
76,000 T-shirts for Walmart—the politicians smiled in satisfaction. More than a thousand Haitians had been put to work—a significant step for a nation where 80 percent of the ten million citizens lack jobs in the formal sector.
At least that was the theory behind the enormous amount of effort and money invested in bringing these jobs to Haiti. In 2008, the U.S. Congress passed the
Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2008 (HOPE II), providing customs exemptions that strongly incentivize corporations to import goods to the US. assembled by the Haitian textile and garment industry. This policy received a prominent imprimatur in 2009, when Paul Collier, an Oxford professor of economics and former director of the World Bank’s Development Research Group, prepared a report on Haiti at the request of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The key to Haiti’s economic recovery, Collier concluded, is the Haitian garment industry and its potential to create hundreds of thousands of Haitian jobs.
Collier expressed no concerns over the likelihood that those jobs would pay sub-poverty salaries. In fact, Collier and others see the key to Haiti’s future in the large supply of desperate Haitians willing to work for rock-bottom wages. “Due to its poverty and relatively unregulated labour market, Haiti has labour costs that are fully competitive with China, which is the global benchmark,” he wrote in the report.
The U.S. has worked hard to keep them that way. Diplomatic cables obtained by Wikileaks show that the U.S. State Department assisted contractors for Fruit of the Loom, Hanes, and Levi’s in a successful campaign to block a planned minimum wage increase unanimously approved by the Haitian Parliament in 2009. That increase, driven by a series of worker strikes and demonstrations, would have compelled the contractors to pay 62 cents per hour (about $5 per day) to Haitians sewing clothing for sale overseas. But Haitian government leaders caved in to U.S. pressure and dropped the textile industry minimum wage to about $3/day. The U.S. then provided more assistance to Haitian garment companies through duty exemptions in the
Haiti Economic Lift Program (HELP) Act in 2010. Though this legislative largest cut overhead for the companies, Haitian workers are still the lowest paid in the hemisphere.
David explains what that pay scale means in real terms. Gesturing in the direction of the workers leaving the industrial park, he says that most of them earn about 200 Haitian gourdes per day. The typical exchange rate is 40 Haitian gourdes for one U.S. dollar, so their salary equals about $5 each day. By the time they pay for transportation to work and a simple meal of plain spaghetti and juice during the workday, they head home with only 40 gourdes, about one U.S. dollar. And they have not yet paid for dinner or housing. Yet unemployment is so pervasive here that the companies count on a reliable supply of Haitians willing to do the work at these sub-poverty wages—just as Paul Collier predicted.
David’s cost of living analysis was backed up by other Haitians I talked with. In 2011, the AFL-CIO-supported
Solidarity Center conducted a
study estimating the living wage for apparel workers in Port-au-Prince. Factoring in the costs of necessities like food, housing, cooking fuel and child care, the Solidarity Center estimated a living wage for an adult with two dependents to be 1,152 gourdes (about $29) per day.
The current wave of global support for garment-export-based economic development in Haiti has a precedent, as does the resulting struggle by Haitian workers to make ends meet. Under the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier in the ’70s, the U.S. Agency for International Development launched a campaign to transform Haiti into the “Taiwan of the Caribbean,” i.e. the supplier of the cheapest export-assembly labor in the Western Hemisphere.
Wages were held down by enormous unemployment and by little prospect of worker activism under a repressive regime. Duvalier, politically and financially indebted to the U.S. and the International Monetary Fund, agreed to a neoliberal economic regimen that eliminated nearly every obstacle to free trade. By 1984, Haiti had become the 9th-largest supplier of goods to the U.S., mostly assembled products such as baseballs, clothing and toys.
The assembly companies and their U.S. consumers benefited from the arrangement. But a host country does not get much value from an industry where raw materials are imported in and the assembled products are shipped out. The coveted “multiplier effect,” produced when goods are produced and purchased locally, is absent from this export-only model. Combined with sub-poverty wages that provided little purchasing power to workers, the result was that all of the bustling export-assembly activity did not move the economic needle for the Haitian people.
Haiti certainly needs economic developm
ent, b
ut there are other models to pursue, including agricultural practices the Haitian people successfully followed for generations. Separate from the often-dysfunctional government, rural Haitians adhered to the lakou system of property management that divided former plantations into small plots and yielded crops that supported the extended families living there. Haiti met its own food needs and exported to other countries.
But heavy-handed U.S. policies destroyed that legacy. Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, the IMF, with the U.S. as its largest shareholder and dominant voice, forced Haiti to dramatically reduce tariffs on imported staples. The Haitian tariff on rice, for example, was dropped from 50 percent to the current rate of 3 percent, compared to a regional average of 20 percent. Haitian farmers can no longer compete with food imports from the U.S. and other countries, where crops are highly subsidized by their governments. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Haitians have migrated from the countryside to Port-au-Prince, where they compete to provide cheap labor for garment-assembly companies under harsh conditions.
David says his workplace, at a company called Interamerican Woven, is brutally hot—a literal sweatshop—with little ventilation and limited potable water. An
October 2012 report, produced by the International Labor Organization as part of the Hope II legislation, confirms that the company and several others failed to meet baseline requirements for workplace conditions, such as high temperatures and clean drinking water. The report includes similar findings for several other garment assembly companies.
Jackson works for one of those companies, Global Manufacturers and Contractors, assembling T-shirts with tags like Hanes and Champion. Jackson and his wife have two young children. To make ends meet, both parents work six days per week in garment factories. Jackson’s wife skips church on Sunday to report to an additional part-time job. Yet they still must borrow from family and friends to pay the rent and keep food on the table.
Like David, Jackson is an active member of a syndicat of workers advocating for better wages and conditions. Company management pushes against the union, they say, harassing its members whenever possible. Recent investigations by the International Labor Organization and
Haiti Grassroots Watch confirmed widespread union-busting in the Haitian apparel industry. “The people fired for being part of the union make a list this long, “ Jackson says, holding his hands two feet apart. “They find a different reason to let them go, but they are tagged because they are part of the syndicat.”
The companies could easily pay their employees better, Jackson says. His position is backed up by economic analysis by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, which reviewed the competitiveness of the Haitian garment assembly industry in 2011. The report concluded that preferential market access to the U.S. provided by HOPE II and HELP, along with comparatively low sea freight costs, provide a distinct market advantage to these companies. “The argument that factories in Haiti can’t raise wages is bogus, as they have some of the most competitive costs in the world already,” says Jake Johnston, a researcher on Haiti issues for the Center on Economic and Policy Research.
The T-shirts Jackson makes for GMC are shipped to Etazini—the U.S.—so I ask him if he has any message for Americans. He thinks for a moment, then replies in Creole. “Wi. I appeal to their conscience and hope they ask questions about what they are buying. We make T-shirts for cents, they buy them for dollars,” he says. “That is the reason we come together to support each other; to fight for fairness.”
Name of workers in this piece have been changed to protect them from retaliation.
Military Must Purchase Made in America Steel
in Uncategorized“This is a win for our military and for American companies like ArcelorMittal, Cliffs, and Nucor, that make steel for our military right here in the United States,” Brown said on Tuesday. “We know how to make steel armor plates here in America, and there’s no reason why countries like China and Russia should be making the steel used in our military’s vehicles and equipment.”
Steel armor plates are used for military vehicles, tanks, and equipment. Under regulations, specialty metals procured for defense purposes— including steel armor plate — must be produced in the United States.
Why Americans Love Small Business
in UncategorizedSmall business’s favorability is remarkably stable. Gallup Organization polls in both 2010 and 2012 reported 95 percent positive views of small business among Americans.
Why do Americans love small business? Five reasons jump out from all the studies and surveys.
1. Small business owners are the embodiment of the American dream.
Americans like the gumption it takes to invest one’s life savings to follow the dream of starting a company. We are, after all, supposed to be a nation of go-getting, risk takers living in the land of opportunity.
2. Americans love the idea that big companies come from tiny ones.
While studies show that few small businesses actually grow, and only a sliver of entrepreneurs want to do more than start a little company, virtually all big companies started small. As a nation, we love the idea that oak trees come from acorns.
3. Small business is the underdog and Americans root for the underdog.
Small business owners work more hours and make less money than the rest of us, according to the Pew Foundation. They face competition from deep pocketed big companies who — according to the perception of a significant minority of Americans — sometimes use unfair tactics to compete, a Public Affairs Council survey found.
4. Small business owners are seen as honest and ethical.
Only 8 percent of Americans think the CEOs of major corporations are highly ethical, but 52 percent who view small business owners as such, according to the Public Affairs Council survey.
5. Small business is seen as the backbone of a middle class way of life.
When asked who should get credit for supporting the middle class over the last half century, 51 percent of Americans picked small business — more than double the amount that chose labor unions, big companies or the federal government.
Most Americans believe small business owners are America’s job creators. A July 2012, Rasmussen survey found that 57 percent of American voters think small business owners create more jobs and generate more economic growth than either big businesses or the government.
Perhaps small business’s popularity can bridge the political divide that has paralyzed Washington. Unlike capitalism itself, small business is perceived positively by both Democrats and Republicans alike. A 2012 Gallup survey found that while nearly three times as many Democrats as Republicans view the federal government favorably, and nearly twice as many Republicans as Democrats see big business in a positive light, 95 percent of Republicans and 94 percent of Democrats have a positive view of small business.
Note to Washington: Why don’t you focus on policies that help small business generate good will between the parties?
Women Miss Out on Manufacturing Gains
in UncategorizedWomen, however, haven’t seen the same gains. Female employment in the manufacturing sector has actually fallen by 13,000 in the past three years. Female durable-goods employment has been mostly flat, up a paltry 4,000 jobs.
The recovery has also been weaker for women outside manufacturing. Women’s employment didn’t hit bottom until September 2010 — six months after men’s employment started rising — and women saw shallower gains once they did start finding jobs.
But that disparity is explained, at least to a significant degree, by the fact that men were hit earlier and harder by the recession, which struck male-dominated professions such as construction and manufacturing with particular force. Despite their weaker gains in the recovery, women are actually closer than men to their pre-recession employment level.
Such a “catch-up” effect doesn’t explain what’s going on in manufacturing, however, as the National Women’s Law Center noted in a report today. Women lost manufacturing jobs faster than men during the recession, and have gained them back more slowly in the recovery.
The decline of women in manufacturing appears to reflect a longer-term trend. Women’s share of factory jobs rose steadily in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, peaking at just under a third — 32.2% — in the early 1990s. Since then, their share has dropped just as steadily, falling in 20 of the past 21 years. Women held 27.3% of manufacturing jobs in 2012, the lowest level since 1971.
The decline might come as a surprise given that increasing automation has made much factory work less physically demanding. But automation has also wiped out many of the jobs traditionally held by women — both factory-floor jobs such as quality control and backroom clerical positions. Additionally, many of the fastest-growing manufacturing sectors, such as fabricated metal products and machinery, have a relatively small share of women employees. And as the NWLC report points out, jobs in those sectors have gone disproportionately to men.
Manufacturing gets an outsized amount of attention given its share of the economy — less than 11% of private-sector employment for all workers, and just 6% for women. But manufacturing jobs, especially in the durable goods sector, tend to be fairly well-paying, and remain a rare path to the middle class for workers without a college degree. It’s a path that remains far less common for women than for men.
Legislation To End Tax Breaks for Companies Shipping Jobs Overseas
in UncategorizedThe Bring Jobs Home Act introduced by Senator Debbie Stabenow, creates a special 20 percent tax credit for the moving expenses of companies who shift operations back to the U.S. from abroad.
The bill also prevents companies from deducting from their taxes the costs associated with shipping jobs overseas. Under current law, companies can deduct 100 percent of the cost of shipping equipment overseas, terminating leases, and other expenses associated with offshoring a business-meaning that taxpayers are on the hook for millions of dollars annually.
“Right now, some companies are undercutting hardworking Americans by sending valuable jobs out of the country,” McCaskill said. “We shouldn’t be rewarding them for doing it. Instead, let’s use some common sense, and reduce their incentive to outsource by ending tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas, and rewarding companies that bring jobs back to the United States.”
A similar measure had bipartisan majority support in the Senate last year, but ultimately failed to advance after a Republican filibuster.
Experience, Reliability Give Chinese Long Beach Electric Bus Contract
in UncategorizedLBT staff first made the recommendation to go with the BYD bid in February, but the LBT board asked to table the decision for a month to gather more information. After two study sessions, that decision was made at Monday’s meeting on a 5-2 vote, with Lori Ann Farrell and Maricela de Rivera voting no.
BYD has been in business since 1995 and sells batteries, solar panels and electric cars in addition to buses. Company officials said they plan to build a new chassis facility in California sometime next year, although the chassis for the first 10 Long Beach buses will come from China. The batteries are built in a plant in LA.
Proterra was formed in 2004 and has about 160 employees. They have sold 32 of their EcoRide BE35 electric buses and have delivered 14 (compared to 1,000 and 365 for BYD).
Both firms’ coaches carry 35 seated passengers and more than 20 standing. A primary difference is Proterra’s use of lithium-titanate batteries offering a 30-mile range where BTD uses iron-phosphate batteries with a 7.5 year warranty and a range of 118 to 163 miles.
LBT plans to use the buses on the Passport routes downtown, including trips to and from the Queen Mary. The board approved an additional $1.8 million in potential spending if a WAVE (Wireless Advanced Vehicle Electrification) charging system can be developed from current prototypes as a charging station at the Queen Mary stop. The $11.5 million bid includes 10 manual pug-in depot chargers, which take four hours for a full charge.
According to the staff report, the BYD system will cost significantly less than the Proterra system, saving more than $4 million, despite the lower initial cost for Proterra buses. The proven battery system and warranty were other major factors in BYD’s favor.
Money for the purchase came primarily from a Federal Transit Administration grant from the Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) program, some Prop 1B money and a $700,000 grant from the Port of Long Beach’s Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Mitigation Grant Program.
Made in USA Label Pays off For Investors
in UncategorizedThe part of the world where a company makes most of its money can be the difference between a great investment and an OK one. In the past 12 months, U.S. stocks that generate all sales at home are up an average of 18.6%, vs. a gain of 6.2% for American firms that get more than half of their revenue from abroad, Bespoke Investment Group says.
“A major theme of 2013 has clearly been a preference for U.S.-centric stocks,” says Paul Hickey, Bespoke’s co-founder. Why? “The U.S., relative to the rest of the world, is the strongest economy.”
That trend helped drive the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to an all-time closing high Thursday and a 10% first-quarter gain.
Domestically focused companies are also sporting better earnings growth as well as benefiting from inflows of capital from foreign investors that view the U.S. as a haven, Hickey says.
One of Wall Street’s biggest winners this year is media subscription service Netflix, which gets less than 3% of its sales outside the U.S., says S&P Dow Jones Indices. Netflix shares are up 104%. In contrast, tech player Qualcomm, which gets nearly 97% of revenue from abroad and recently warned of slowing growth in Asia, is up 8.2%.
Analysts also see positives in the All-American story, as they have been issuing more positive earnings revisions than negative ones in the past four weeks.
The U.S. market, and particularly domestically focused names, have held up better than foreign stock markets recently following the “Cyprus Surprise,” the latest bailout in the eurozone to spook global investors. Also driving the better performance is the spate of better-than-expected economic data this month, which prompted Barclays to up its first-quarter U.S. GDP estimate to 2.6% from 1.6%.
While U.S. shares have performed better than a broad index of foreign stocks for more than two years, the outperformance has been particularly acute since late 2012 when the U.S. averted a fiscal crisis and election-related political gridlock weighed on sentiment.
“Once the ‘fiscal cliff’ negotiations were settled, U.S. stocks rebounded and haven’t looked back,” Hickey says.
Our Manufacturing Troubles are Cultural, not Economic
in UncategorizedI’d say yes — albeit somewhat sadly.
There are at least six different reasons that traditional manufacturing is declining. They aren’t the obvious ones you’ve heard so much about — I’m not talking about labor costs, OSHA regulations, or protesters more concerned about pollution and plant life than production. My thoughts are a little more basic. I refer to them as the 6 D’s:
Dirt
We lost the race for raw materials years ago, as China and other more foresighted countries scooped up vast quantities of the minerals, compounds and rare earths essential to the production of virtually everything cellular or digital.
Durability
In a world of instant gratification and rampant disposability — where the packaging we discard costs more than the products we consume — who really cares about making durable goods and long-lasting products? We’re sick of stuff once it’s no longer shiny, and shiny never lasts.
Soon, new 3D printing technologies will encourage the development of even more kinds of disposable products. That’s bad for our production facilities, our population, and our planet.
Demand
Frankly, we’d rather not own anything these days. Between high maintenance costs, the devastating depreciation of everything physical, and rapid obsolescence, there’s really no reason to buy anything for the long run. We’ve become users and renters, not owners. Zipcar provides “cars for people who don’t want one.” That says a lot more about our lives today than merely pointing out our transportation preferences.
Desire
Our desire for certain things morphs over time, and our appetites change as well. And bragging about your property and your possessions just isn’t cool any more. We’re becoming much less materialistic. In the world of “Mad Men,” four things defined a man: his home, his car, his wife, and his shoes. Just think about how little this formulation has to do with the way we see our lives today, and you’ll appreciate the massive changes coming down the pike.
Demographics
I wrote recently that kids don’t care about cars, but things are much worse for manufacturers than that. As soon as kids reach the age where they can make their own durable goods purchases, they realize they don’t have any money. Instead of saving, they spend their time sucking down lattes from Starbucks. For Generation Y, everything is about the experience and the adventure and the trip, and not about things. Things are mainly a downer and a drag.
Digital
Digital is dictating everything. Everyone realizes that good ideas last much longer and are worth a great deal more than anything you can make with your hands. Unlike even the best physical objects, ideas and some digital goods can be easily shared. Once an idea is widely shared, it’s enhanced and expanded in its scope and its power, not diminished or lessened by broad distribution. That’s how we’ll generate growth in future. By manufacturing new ideas — not iPads.
Is the U.S. Manufacturing Renaissance Real?
in ManufacturingBut at least one economic seer, Goldman Sachs’ chief economist Jan Hatzius, is throwing a bit of cold water on the idea. He recently released a report, which is getting a lot of attention on the web, arguing that the U.S. “manufacturing renaissance” is cyclical, not structural – meaning, the sector is doing as well as would have been predicted under any circumstances at this point in an economic recovery, and that the gains don’t point to a real seismic shift in U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. “Measured productivity growth has been strong,” admits Hatzius in the report, entitled “U.S. Manufacturing Renaissance: Fact or Fiction?” “But U.S. export performance – arguably a more reliable indicator of competitiveness—remains middling at best.”
It’s a very interesting point, and it matters a lot to the broader economy. Nations that do better in manufacturing gain an edge in the global economy: For every $1 of manufacturing output in a community, there’s another $1.48 of wealth created. That’s why economic advisors to the President, like National Economic Council head Gene Sperling, have been pushing pro-manufacturing policies. But the Goldman report would seem to indicate that the strength in U.S. manufacturing output reflects more the relative weakness of Europe (which is mired in a debt crisis) and Japan, rather than a long-term positive shift in the U.S. itself. “Over the next few years, the manufacturing sector should continue to grow a bit faster than the overall economy,” notes the report. “But the main reason is likely to be a broad improvement in aggregate demand rather than a structural U.S. manufacturing renaissance.”
Hatzius was on holiday this week and unavailable for comment (we’ll be following up with him next week), but one immediate question is whether exports really do provide a more accurate picture, as the report suggests. It may be that more goods manufactured in the U.S. are staying in the U.S. As we’ve traveled around the country reporting on this topic over the last couple of years, a number of big industrial firms have pointed to growing demand for their products here at home – Caterpillar, which makes an increasing amount of its large earth-moving equipment for domestic mining, agriculture, and energy operations, is a great case in point.
Then there’s the question of how to look at the productivity numbers. While U.S. productivity is up over the last several years relative to, say, China, which has been flat (and also suffers from rising wages), the big question is how much more it can go up. We feel there’s reason to be bullish on the growth potential there, given how materials science and the evolution of the “industrial internet” are fundamentally reshaping manufacturing in the U.S.’s favor. The once separate steps of designing a product, making or buying the parts, and then putting everything together are beginning to blend — a consequence of technologies such as additive manufacturing and 3-D printing. It means that manufacturing wants to be closer to engineering and design — a dynamic that would likely benefit the U.S., which still rules those high-end job categories. Add the ability to include sensors in every part and process, and you’ve got a whole new manufacturing ecosystem that allows companies to accelerate product development cycles and deliver more variety and value more quickly to ever more fickle consumers.
Of course, the jobs that are being created aren’t your father’s (or grandfather’s) factory jobs of knocking in four bolts a minute for eight hours a day. The new economics of Made in the USA are built in large part around acquiring cutting-edge technologies ahead of global competitors and then using those new techniques to produce more efficiently on super-automated factory floors. And while all the technology will translate into higher end jobs, it will also mean — barring dramatic growth — fewer jobs overall, especially in the middle. Positions will either be high end, or lower paid, since workers still have to compete with cheaper overseas labor (even with wage inflation in China, it will be years before the Chinese are on par with U.S. wages). It’s no accident that many of the new manufacturing clusters in the U.S. are in the South, where unions hold less power. “Yes, manufacturing is coming back, but it’s evolving into a very different type of animal than the one most people recognize today,” says James Manyika, says James Manyika, director of McKinsey Global Institute, which recently did an exhaustive study on this shift entitled “Manufacturing the Future.” “We’re going to see new jobs, but no where near the number some people expect, especially in the short term.”
It’s a sentiment that stands in sobering contrast to President Obama’s second term goal of creating a million new manufacturing jobs in four years. Some of the difference may lie in semantics. As Manyika points out, labor statistics underestimate the reality of manufacturing, since they count mainly jobs inside factories. Related positions in, say, Ford’s marketing department, or small businesses doing industrial design or creating new software for big exporters don’t get tallied. Yet these jobs wouldn’t exist but for the big factories. The official 9% of U.S. employment represented by manufacturing belies the importance of the sector to our overall economy. Manufacturing represents a whopping 67% of all private sector R & D spending, as well as 30% of the country’s productivity growth.
In short, manufacturing’s value can be measured in many different ways. “The ability to make things is fundamental to the ability to innovate things over the long term,” says Willy Shih of Harvard Business School and co-author of Producing Prosperity: Why America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance. “When you give up making products you lose a lot of the added value.” That’s as good a reason as any to care about the future of manufacturing.
U.S. Must Comply with WTO Meat-Labeling Ruling by May
in UncategorizedThat decision gave the United States an unspecified amount of time to comply.
The labeling program has led to a sharp reduction in U.S. imports of Canadian pigs and cattle, because it raised costs for U.S. packers by forcing them to segregate those animals from U.S. livestock. Some U.S. groups, however, have said COOL offers consumers valuable information about the origin of their food.
“We expect that the U.S. will bring itself into compliance with its WTO obligations by May 2013 as determined by the arbitrator for the benefit of producers on both sides of the border,” Canadian International Trade Minister Ed Fast and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said in a joint statement.
“We are particularly pleased that the arbitrator determined a reasonable period of time close to that proposed by Canada and Mexico, as opposed to the much longer period suggested by the United States.”
According to the Canadian ministers, the United States asked that it be given until January 23, 2014 to comply. Canada and Mexico asked for compliance by early 2013.
Meat labels became mandatory in March 2009 after years of debate. U.S. consumer and some farm groups supported the requirement, saying consumers should have information to distinguish between U.S. and foreign products.
Big meat processors opposed the provision, which they said would unnecessarily boost costs and disrupt trade.
The U.S. labeling law requires grocers to put labels on cuts of beef, pork, lamb, chicken and ground meat or post signs that list the origin of the meat.
U.S. officials have said the WTO’s June ruling allowed the United States to continue to require country-of-origin labels, but Washington will have to alter the program to ensure it does not create an impermissible trade barrier.
“The United States remains committed to ensuring that consumers are provided with information about the origin of the beef and pork products they buy at the retail level,” Nkenge Harmon, a spokesperson for U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, said on Tuesday. “We intend to bring the COOL requirements into compliance within the period of time established by the arbitrator, and we will continue to work with USDA, Congress, and interested stakeholders in order to do so.”
How We Could Create Jobs While Reducing The Trade Deficit and National Debt
in UncategorizedThe combined effects of an increasing trade deficit with China and other countries, as well as American manufacturers choosing to “offshore” manufacturing, has resulted in the loss of 5.7 million manufacturing jobs since the year 2000. If we calculate the multiplier effect, we have actually lost upwards of 17 to 22 million jobs, meaning that we have fewer taxpayers and more consumers of tax revenue in the form of unemployment benefits, food stamps, and Medicaid.
In 2012, the U.S. trade deficit with China reached a new record of $315 billion. According to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the trade deficit with China cost 2.7 million U.S. jobs from 2001-2011. The Department of Commerce estimates that each $1 billion in trade deficit translates to about 13,000 lost jobs, so the $738 billion trade deficit in goods for 2012 cost upwards of 9,599,200 jobs.
What Congress Could Do
First, Congress should enact legislation that addresses China’s currency manipulation. Most economists believe that China’s currency is undervalued by 30-40% so their products may be cheaper than American products on that basis alone. To address China’s currency manipulation and provide a means for American companies to petition for countervailing duties, the Senate passed S. 1619 in 2011, but GOP leadership prevented the corresponding bill in the House, H. R. 639, from being brought up for a vote, even though it had bi-partisan support with 231 co-sponsors. On March 20, 2013, Sander Levin (D-MI), Tim Murphy (R-PA), Tim Ryan (D-OH), and Mo Brooks (R-AL) introduced the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act in the House and a corresponding bill will be introduced in the Senate.
Second, Congress should strengthen and tighten procurement regulations to enforce “buying American” for all government agencies and not just the Department of Defense. All federal spending should have “buy America” provisions giving American workers and businesses the first opportunity at procurement contracts. New federal loan guarantees for energy projects should require the utilization of domestic supply chains for construction. No federal, state, or local government dollars should be spent buying materials, equipment, supplies, and workers from China.
My other recommendations for creating jobs are based on improving the competitiveness of American companies by improving the business climate of the United States so that there is less incentive for American manufacturing companies to outsource manufacturing offshore or build plants in foreign countries. The following proposed legislation would also prevent corporations from avoiding paying corporate income taxes:
It is also critical that we not approve any new Free Trade Agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Trans-Atlantic Partnership that are currently proposed. The U.S. has a trade deficit with every one of its trading partners from NAFTA forward, so Free Trade Agreements have hurt more than helped the U.S. economy.
What States and Regions Could Do
State and local government can work in partnership with economic development agencies, universities, trade associations, and non-profit organizations to facilitate the growth and success of startup manufacturing companies in a variety of means:
Improve the Business Climate – Each state should take an honest look at the business climate they provide businesses, but especially manufacturers since they provide more jobs than any other economic sector. The goal should be to facilitate the startup and success of manufacturers to create more jobs. I recommend the following actions:
Establish or Support Existing Business Incubation Programs, such as those provided by the members of the National Business Incubation Alliance. Business incubators provide a positive sharing-type environment for creative entrepreneurship, often offering counseling and peer review services, as well as shared office or laboratory facilities, and a generally strong bias toward growth and innovation.
Facilitate Returning Manufacturing to America – The Reshoring Initiative, founded by Harry Moser in 2010, has a mission to bring good, well-paying manufacturing jobs back to the United States by assisting companies to more accurately assess their total cost of offshoring, and shift collective thinking from “offshoring is cheaper” to “local reduces the total cost of ownership.” The top reasons for U. S. to reshore are:
According to Mr. Moser, the Initiative has documented case studies of companies reshoring showing that “about 220 to 250 organizations have brought manufacturing back to the U.S….with the heaviest migration from China. This represents about 50,000 jobs, which is 10% of job growth in manufacturing since January 2010.”
State and/or local government could facilitate “reshoring” for manufa
cturer
s in their region by conducting Reshoring Initiative conferences to teach participants the concept of Total Cost of Ownership, how to use Mr. Moser’s free Total Cost of Ownership Estimator™, and help them connect with local suppliers.
Establish Enterprise Zones and/or Free Trade Zones: Enterprise Zones provide special advantages or benefits to companies in these zones, such as:
States located on international borders could also establish Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs), which are sites in or near a U.S. Customs port of entry where foreign and domestic goods are considered to be in international trade. Goods can be brought into the zones without formal Customs entry or without incurring Customs duties/excise taxes until they are imported into the U. S. FTZs are intended to promote U.S. participation in trade and commerce by eliminating or reducing the unintended costs associated with U.S. trade laws
What Individuals Could Do
There are many things we could do as individuals to create jobs and reduce our trade deficits and national debt. You may feel that there is nothing you can do as an individual, but it’s not true! American activist and author, Sonia Johnson said, “We must remember that one determined person can make a significant difference, and that a small group of determined people can change the course of history.”
If you are an inventor ready to get a patent or license agreement for your product, select American companies to make parts and assemblies for your product as much as possible. There are some electronic components that are no longer made in the U. S., so it may not be possible to source all of the component parts with American companies. There are many hidden costs to doing business offshore, so in the long run, you may not save as much money as you expect by sourcing your product offshore. The cost savings is not worth the danger of having your Intellectual Property stolen by a foreign company that will use it to make a copycat or counterfeit product sold at a lower price.
If you are an entrepreneur starting a company, find a niche product for which customers will be willing to pay more for a “Made in USA” product. Plan to sell your product on the basis of its “distinct competitive advantage” rather than on the basis of lowest price. Select your suppliers from American companies as this will create jobs for other Americans.
If you are the owner of an existing manufacturing company, then conduct a Total Cost of Ownership analysis for your bill of materials to see if you could “reshore” some or all of the items to be made in the United States. You can use the free TCO worksheet estimator to conduct your analysis available from the Reshoring Initiative at www.reshorenow.org. Also, you could choose to keep R&D in the United States or bring it back to the United States if you have sourced it offshore.
If enough manufacturing is “reshored” from China, we would drastically reduce our over $700 billion trade deficit in goods. We could create as many as three million manufacturing jobs, which would, in turn, create 9 – 12 million total jobs, bringing our unemployment down to 4 percent.
You may not realize it, but you have tremendous power as a consumer. Even large corporations pay attention to trends in consumer buying, and there is beginning to be a trend to buy ‘Made in USA” products. As a result, on January 15, 2013, Walmart and Sam’s Club announced they will buy an additional $50 billion in U.S. products over the next 10 years.
U.S. voters supported Buy America policies by a 12-to-1 margin according to a survey of 1,200 likely general election voters conducted between June 28 and July 2, 2012 by the Mellman Group and North Star Opinion Research. The overwhelming support has grown since prior iterations of the same poll – Buy America received an 11-to-1 margin of support in 2011 and a 5-to-1 margin in 2010. A survey by Perception Services International of 1400 consumers in July 2012, found that 76% were more likely to buy a U.S. product and 57% were less likely to buy a Chinese product.
As a consumer, you should pay attention to the country of origin labels when they shop and buy “Made in USA” products whenever possible. Be willing to step out of your comfort zone and ask the store owner or manager to carry more “Made in USA” products. If you buy products online, there are now a plethora of online sources dedicated to selling only “Made in USA” products. Each time you choose to buy an American-made product, you help save or create an American job.
In his book, Buying America Back: A Real-Deal Blueprint for Restoring American Prosperity, Alan Uke, recommends Country of Origin labeling for all manufactured products that “puts control in the hands of American consumers to make powerful buying choices to boost our economy and create jobs,” as well as reduce our trade deficit. The labels would be similar to the labels on autos, listing the percent of content by country of all of the major components of the product. This Country of Origin labeling would enable American consumers to make the decision to buy products that have most of their content “made in USA.”
If every American would make the decision to buy American products and avoid imports as much as possible, we could make a real difference in our nation’s economy. For example, if 200 million Americans bought $20 worth of American products instead of Chinese, it would reduce our trade imbalance with China by four billion dollars. During the ABC World News series called “Made in America,” Diane Sawyer has repeatedly said, “If every American spent an extra $3.33 on U. S.-made goods, it would create almost 10,000 new jobs in this country.”
In conclusion, if we want to create more jobs, reduce our trade deficit and national debt, we must support our manufacturing industry so that it could once again be the economic engine for economic growth. Following the suggestions in this article could make the “Great American Job Engine” roar once again.
Google Glass Will Be American Made
in UncategorizedThe decision to manufacture in California will boost President Barack Obama’s drive, set out in his State of the Union address, to ensure “the next revolution in manufacturing is ‘Made in America’”. In December, Apple chief executive Tim Cook pledged to invest $100m in American manufacturing. Foxconn has also said it is considering expanding its US operations in response to growing customer demands.
Glass is an ambitious example of so-called wearable computing, Silicon Valley’s latest gadget obsession. Its inbuilt camera is controlled by voice recognition software and can send photos and videos directly to the web, via a connected smartphone, while a small screen above the wearer’s right eye displays search results and other information.
The small scale, high cost and complexity of the project’s initial run makes it practical to base manufacturing operations near the search company’s Silicon Valley headquarters, according to people briefed on the plans.
Only a few thousand Google Glass devices will roll off the Californian factory line in the coming weeks, rather than the millions of iPhones and other electronics which Foxconn typically produces at its plants in China, where the vast majority of the world’s gadgets are made. It is also not clear how many people the facility will employ.
Google said on Wednesday that it would give 8,000 contest winners the opportunity to buy the $1,500 devices. Although no launch date has been set publicly, Glass is expected go on sale to the mass market later this year.
Manufacturing locally will allow Google’s engineers to be closely involved with the production process and provide more opportunities for last-minute fixes and for personal customisation.
Although many components are being sourced from Asia, final assembly will be done in Santa Clara. Foxconn and Google declined to comment.
Such moves may also blaze a trail for Silicon Valley’s resurgent community of hardware start-ups, which remain largely reliant on cheaper offshore manufacturing. As contract device makers scale up production for large clients such as Apple and Google, their prices will fall and provide capacity for smaller companies too.
Many of the people waiting to receive Glass include developers who ordered a pair at last June’s Google I/O event in San Francisco, as well as some handpicked Google partners. Some tech and media companies, including Evernote, Path and the New York Times, are already creating apps to work on the headset. The “Explorer Edition” of Glass currently being manufactured is likely to be unveiled at this year’s I/O.
Google’s first attempt at building its own hardware was last year’s aborted Nexus Q, a music and movie-streaming device that was also made in Silicon Valley. The physical design of the small spherical unit, which included touch sensors, precision-machined zinc housing and 33 LEDs, was widely praised. But Google pulled the unit from sale last August, just weeks after unveiling it, without providing any reason for the move.
Google’s previous hardware partners have primarily been other branded electronics companies such as Taiwan’s Asus and South Korea’s LG, with which it has developed different generations of the Nexus line of flagship Android smartphones and tablets.
Additional reporting by Sarah Mishkin in Taipei and Richard Waters in San Francisco
Hottest Accessory for Spring? A Made in U.S.A. Label
in UncategorizedWhat used to be a patriotic rally cry of Appalachian and Rust Belt states (having grown up in a West Virginia steel-working family, I can say that) is now the socially-responsible and eco-friendly marketing campaign for a new trend of designers.
D.C.-based designer Tim Neill will launch Red Hand, his new line of accessories for men, at theWonderland Ballroom (1101 Kenyon St NW in Columbia Heights) from 5:30-9 p.m.
And N.Y.-based designer Allison Parris is showcasing her stunning spring line of frilly, girly-girl party dresses at Room & Board (1840 14th Street NW) from 7- 9 p.m.
Two very different designers. Two very different product lines. One similar mission — producing unique, high-quality clothing and accessories with fair-wage stitching and socially-responsible thread counts.
For both Neill and Parris, this is philosophy mixed with good business. They have identified a growing demographic — people who shop consciously.
“We are absolutely seeing a shift in consumer attitude,” adds Neill, whose Red Hand line focuses on men who are “bored with the mediocre products offered by many of the retail apparel chains and who can’t afford the premium stores or boutiques.”
“I think that people finally understand the repercussions of their buying decisions,” he adds.
Parris feels it’s a slowly growing trend. “I think little by little, as the economy gets better and people can afford it more, it will continue to swing further in that direction.”
She built her line “around the idea that ‘retaining moral values’ and ‘being able to wear beautiful, well-made clothing’ are not mutually exclusive actions.”
And to her fair wage is a “feel-good thing.”
“You want to know that your dress isn’t made by child labor and that the people making it are being treated fairly,” she explains.
Forget wonks, academics and think tanks. When discussing the problems of starting a business in the U.S., there’s no more knowledgeable source than someone actually engaged in the process. Neill sounds more like a Harvard economics professor than entrepreneur as he talks about getting Red Hand operational. No offense to entrepreneurs.
“The biggest challenge we had in making (our) product here,” he explains, “was identifying good and viable manufacturers to work with.” In fact, if he were president for a day, Neill would “fund and support institutions charged with pairing ideas and companies with viable manufacturers.”
On the lighter side. It’s fashion. Nobody wants to wear socially-conscious fashion if it sucks. Both product lines are fun, unique and inspired.
And if you think a night out with fashion does not a good date make … well, you’d be right.
But that’s okay.
Because tonight the men can drink a pint at Wonderland and peruse Neill’s belt buckles hand-crafted from auto parts and pharmaceutically-themed neckties and the women can succumb to Parris’s 1950s-inspired confections while being seduced by Don Draper. In their heads. Room & Board has just the right set design for that fantasy. Hopefully, they’ll be serving very dry martinis, a detail I could not confirm.
Although, if gift-buying is in your near future, I suggest you pick accordingly.
Reinvigorate America, One Tradesman At A Time
in UncategorizedClosing the skills gap
“The Skills Gap is not a mystery; it’s a reflection of what we value,” explains Mike Rowe, Host of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, and CEO of mikeroweWORKS, in the publication’s foreword. “And if we’re serious about closing the gap, we need to reconnect with that part of our workforce. We need to reinvigorate the trades. We need to confront the stigmas and stereotypes associated with skilled labor, and let go of this absurd belief that a four-year degree is the only viable way to acquire useful knowledge.”
Manufacturing in America
If every American were to spend just $64 a year on products made in the U.S., over 200,000 new jobs would be created. In a nation where the unemployment rate is still soaring, these numbers are startling. “Consumers should be concerned about buying American-made, not just because the products are safer and of higher quality, but because doing so creates jobs and minimizes our carbon footprint,” says Margarita Mendoza, founder of Made in America Movement.
In collaboration with American-made toy manufacturer K’Nex, Mediaplanet has launched a social media giveaway to promote the concept of “Made in America.” Readers are encouraged to submit an image of their favorite made in America product, and ten lucky readers will receive an American-made K’nex 50 Model building set. Further details on the giveaway can be found on Employing America’s digital campaign website.
Mediaplanet’s Campaign
In partnership with Air Products, All American Clothing, Bill Clinton, Caterpillar, Inc., Ford Motor Company, General Electric, Go Build Alabama, Haskell, IRWIN Tools, MikeRoweWORKS, The National Center for Construction Education and Research, Salary.com, SkillsUSA, Snap-on Tools, Made in America Movement and The Rodon Group/ K’nex, a call to action has been created to ensure that awareness is raised concerning the skilled labor gap.
The full report can be downloaded here. Employing America
SOURCE: MediaPlanet Publishing
GOLDMAN SACHS: There Is No Sign Of An American Manufacturing Renaissance
in UncategorizedMar. 24, 2013
However, Hatzius argues that all of the signs reflect a recovery that is “squarely cyclical,” not structural. In other words, U.S. manufacturing has yet to demonstrate that there is a major long-term shift going on in the world.
“Evidence for a structural renaissance is scant so far,” writes Hatzius. “Measured productivity growth has been strong, but US export performance — arguably a more reliable indicator of competitiveness — remains middling at best. And at least so far, there is not much evidence for large positive spillovers from the U.S. energy cost advantage to broader manufacturing output.”
Hatzius takes a close look at export market shares because they are “relatively easy to measure and are an intuitive gauge.” Here’s what the data tells him:
“But we believe the reason for this will be broad economic improvement that benefits all sectors, especially the more cyclical ones, not a structural U.S. manufacturing renaissance,” he writes.
"Made in America?" Not Any Time Soon
in UncategorizedThe French had done it — in fact, still do to some degree – provide incentives to both manufacturing and consumption to remain in the patrimoine. But they have a country the size of Texas, with a largely homogeneous population that’s controllable by the benign socialist system in place there.
Four years and hundreds of millions of 1970 dollars into that “Crafted with pride in U.S.A.” campaign, it was deemed an utter failure. The sound of soft gloating giggles began issuing from Asia. Occasionally one would see products with “Made in USA” stamped on them – Usa being the name of a factory town in Japan. Manufacturing left America, and consumers, who months earlier had avidly responded to research questionnaires that they would favor apparel made in the U.S. and would in fact pay a premium for it, began to get comfortable with clothing and other goods made elsewhere.
That comfort has extended right into the Internet age, where everything and anything can be globally sourced by anyone, at any time. Consumers have now gained so much power that retailers feel real pressure not just to keep from raising their prices, but to consistently lower them.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” wrote the philosopher George Santayana. A recent study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, as well as an earlier survey by the NPD Group in the fall of last year, found that upwards of three quarters of consumers surveyed thought it was extremely or somewhat important to buy apparel made in the U.S., while about 70 percent said they were willing to pay variously higher prices for said goods.
Hogwash, says I. Not the research methods. Not even the accuracy of the findings.
They’re essentially the same findings as those from the research conducted in the 1970s — that consumers would favor apparel made in the U.S., and indeed, would pay a premium for it. It was the actual behavior of these same consumers that showed up the research as hogwash. The goal of that research and its subsequent consumer marketing campaign was to save the industry from moving offshore.
Most of the retailers during that period were reluctant to sign on in support of the program. Why? Forget the research findings, the consumer’s buck stops at their cash registers. They were smart enough to know that if their blue jeans had a ”Crafted With Pride in the U.S.A.” label, but sold for five bucks more than their competitor’s “Made in China” jeans, then no bucks would be stopping at their registers.
So, bye-bye manufacturing.
Ironically, the findings from the current BCD and NPD research would like us to believe that we can get manufacturing back here again.
Are We Condemned to Repeat History?
If millions were lost, and the campaign to save the manufacturing industry failed in the ‘70s, based on the belief that consumers would change their behavior due to a patriotic “call to duty” in favor of getting more for less, what is it that makes this time any different? And back then it was to try to save much of what was here. Can you imagine what the cost might be to get back even part of what is gone?
Are we to believe consumers are more patriotic today, and have the mental – or economic — bandwidth to connect the dots promising more jobs if they spend a little extra for “Made in America?” Or, as evidenced by American consumers’ obsessive compulsion to find lower and lower prices — admittedly tied to their own shrinking wallets — when confronted with giving up one item on their shopping list to pay a little more for some ill-defined altruistic American future, what do you think our price obsessed consumer is going to do?
If I have to tell you, you don’t belong in retail.
We all say we’re going to do something and then do the opposite. And, why wouldn’t any red blooded American consumer say they would favor American-made goods and pay more for them? After all, to answer that way doesn’t cost them a penny, and they get to feel civic pride to boot.
So, could this possibly be retro sensationalism that’s being drummed up by these research guys and the media? Like this is the next big trend in consumer behavior? That somehow consumers are, all of a sudden and after four or five frightful years, concerned with our economy? Most do not care, nor could they know, what “the economy” is all about. To them the economy is their wallet.
On the supply side, there are retailers and brands that over the past 50 years have successfully built more stores and more stuff than the planet will ever need, and who are wildly slashing prices to steal just one more smidgen of a share of market that isn’t growing. Are they really going to suddenly build costs back into their products, based on what some consumers say they would do? Not likely. What is likely is a minimum wage increase. As one of my colleagues said, “The President wants to raise the minimum wage to nine bucks? Calculate what that will do to a pair of Lee jeans.”
However deftly these surveys may play into the current political and economic narrative, the reality is that brands and retailers that act on the belief that consumers are going to do the same as what they say they would do are lemmings jumping off of a cliff, in my humble opinion.
Yes, there are luxury and designer segments whose customers, even today, can afford to pay higher prices for goods made in the U.S. And there are other product niches and brands such as American Apparel, that are building their value, at least in part, around U.S. made goods or “insourcing,” as it’s being called. But taken together, all of these “patriots” comprise just a tiny sliver of the total.
On another front, all of the press that Walmart has been getting from beating their drum about committing to source $50 billion worth of goods in the U.S. over the next ten years is just that: “beating a drum.” One wonders how much of a PR stunt this is. $50 billion over ten years is $5 billion a year. They sell more than $400 billion worth of goods per year. And, the $5 billion they commit to U.S. sourcing – that’s a whopping one-and-a-quarter percent of their annual sales — will be spread over apparel, home, games, pet supplies and high-end electronics.
Doesn’t sound like a game changer to me. And the minute their core consumers reject even a penny added on to Walmart’s promise of “lowest price always,” the behemoth from Bento
nville
will be beating it back to Bangladesh as fast as you can say “outsourcing.”
There’s one time I can remember when this call to patriotic spending had its intended results. It was right after 9/11, when New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, backed up by the president, implored people to come to New York (or stay here) and spend money, to reignite not only the economy but also the morale of the city’s merchants, residents, and tourists.
Nevertheless, I contend that this article outlines a realistic assessment of where we find ourselves nationally today, as retailers and as consumers. It would be great if consumers were really imbued with enough patriotic emotion that they would sacrifice getting more for less, so that the U.S. could bring back and expand its manufacturing base, thus creating more jobs and regaining a robust and growing economy. Should we, or can we, take a lesson from the French?
I say not any time soon.
Robin Lewis is CEO of retail industry strategy newsletter, The Robin Report, and is co-author of the book The New Rules of Retail.
Longaberger Transitions To American Made Only
in Uncategorized“Our company was built on American craftsmanship,” Baker said. “Our baskets have always been made right here in Ohio. We feel that it’s important to bring all of our production back to America.”
The company that began by solely producing baskets 40 years ago has morphed into a home goods store that produces pottery, woodcrafts, raw iron, glassware and other home accents aside from its famous baskets.
In the early 2000s, Longaberger moved its pottery manufacturing overseas because of an increased demand.
Now, CEO Tami Longaberger has decided to bring production back to its roots here in America within the next several years.
“It won’t be easy,” Longaberger said during a keynote speech in July 2012 in Columbus. “But it’s going to be worth every ounce of work we put into it.”
The festivities will be June 14 and 15 when Longaberger hosts the Great American Picnic. Aside from the world-record flag, there will be live entertainment, food and shopping for everyone in attendance. Baker expects it will be “like a hometown picnic” with people from towns across the U.S. gathered at the Longaberger Homestead in Frazeysburg.
There also will be a specially crafted red-white-and-blue basket auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Fisher House to support American service members and their families by allowing them to be close to loved ones during hospitalization.
“The public has rallied around this project,” Baker said. “It’s creating American jobs and supporting American families. That’s something everyone can get behind. I think that unified message is resounding around the country.”
Suntactics Solar Chargers Made in America with Zero Defects
in UncategorizedMany remote device solar charger manufacturers do not design and manufacture their solar chargers for durability and reliability. They are entirely focused on cost; “low-cost off-shore companies” manufacture their shoddy solar chargers where zero defects is a foreign concept. Their customers have expressed their concerns in the reviews of their solar chargers and, in several situations, have replaced their defective solar chargers with Suntactics solar chargers.
“Suntactics is more concerned about our long-term relationships with our customers,” said Dean Sala, Suntactics Founder and CEO. “And our customers continue to express their appreciation about the quality of our sCharger5 and sCharger12 solar chargers”.
Suntactics has set the quality and value standard for portable solar chargers with over 5,000 Suntactics solar chargers Made in America with zero defects.
About Suntactics
Suntactics focuses on portable solar and off grid solar energy products. Their current products are a unique 5-watt handheld solar charger called the sCharger-5 for solar charging smartphones like the iPhone and powerful dual port 14-watt solar charger called the sCharger-12 for solar charging multiple remote devices including tablets like the iPad. These compact high power and durable solar power chargers meet the needs for a wide range of portable devices. The units are manufactured in the USA at Fastrak, a veteran owned contract manufacturer. Suntactics is headquartered in San Jose, CA.
Buying American Spanning Multiple Industries – Homebuilders Getting in On The Act
in UncategorizedBut buying American isn’t just about the materials that go into your home. “If you build a house, you create two permanent jobs,” explains Anders Lewendal, owner of Anders Lewendal Construction in Bozeman, Mont. The economist-turned-builder challenges contractors to reallocate 5 percent of their spending to American-made merchandise. With figures corroborated by the Boston Consulting Group, Anders calculated that even this 5 percent modification would add 220,000 construction jobs and send $14 billion into the U.S. economy.
“Buying local has been around for generations,” Lewendal notes. “I’m just quantifying this idea and its economic meaning.”
Following Lewendal’s lead, Rowlett successfully built the first all-American-made home on the West Coast. He has since become an influential player in the “Buy American” initiative, a national effort by homebuilders to change the mindset of their industry as well as customers constructing new homes.
Jake Lewendal, Anders’ son who assisted on the original project, the shift to American-made is also about compassion. “From a buyer’s standpoint, it really does pull on your heartstrings,” he says. “When we first started looking at the working conditions for laborers in developing countries, it was basically all horror stories.”
In fact, Lewendal maintains that the cost saved when purchasing cheaper foreign-made products is often value lost in the end.
“If it’s made in America, it’s usually higher quality because of our regulations, our standards and our laborers, who have better working conditions and are more efficient because of the technology we have here,” he says.
There’s another advantage for energy-conscious homebuyers. “You’re creating a house with the lowest possible carbon footprint,” Rowlett says. “I mapped it out, and it took 274,000 travel miles to build a 97-percent American-made home. If I had gone to my nearest port outside of the country – in China – and took those same trips, it was 1.2 million travel miles.”
Further, Rowlett and the Lewendals confirm that even their 100-percent American-made homes cost only 2 or 3 percent more than normal construction fees. Rowlett asserts that builders can go as high as 97 percent American-made without incurring any additional cost.
So if it’s that simple – and equally priced – then why don’t more U.S. homebuyers embrace the idea?
“There’s an educational part to it,” says Garrison Hullinger of Garrison Hullinger Interior Design. Some of his clients worry that the design will suffer, or that the final product will not look the way they want – Hullinger has to assure them that’s not the case.
If you’re a homeowner looking to purchase American products for remodeling, Hullinger suggests skipping the large depot stores in favor of small businesses, which are more likely to carry the American-made products you seek.
In the end, buying American has ripple effects felt nationwide. “If we’re continuing to source for American materials, those people in the manufacturing plants will not have jobs,” Hullinger explains.
Jake Lewendal agrees. “That’s what the American initiative is really all about,” he says. “We’re creating jobs here in America and helping our neighbors.”
This Chart Will Change How You Think About Manufacturing
in UncategorizedConsider what this means. If someone had cornered you in 1980 and asked you to predict what the level manufacturing employment would be at in 2009, and you did a straightforward linear projection of the previous two decades, you would have gotten it almost exactly right. You wouldn’t have known about the fall of the Soviet Union or the rise of China or the scale of advances in international communication or automation, but you still would have gotten it almost exactly right.
Their book goes on to show that similar declines have happened, at roughly the same pace, all around the world.
Rather, the change is due to rapid productivity growth. That is, automation is reducing the amount of labor required to produce a given amount of goods. That means that prices fall. If people respond those price changes by buying more and more of the underlying good, then sales will increase and employment may not fall. But that’s not happened. Instead, people are saving money on manufactured goods and buying more services, instead. That’s led to the decline in manufacturing jobs.
Haitian Sweatshops: Made in the U.S.A.
in UncategorizedAs the Haitian plant of Sae-A began filling its first order–76,000 T-shirts for Walmart—the politicians smiled in satisfaction. More than a thousand Haitians had been put to work—a significant step for a nation where 80 percent of the ten million citizens lack jobs in the formal sector.
At least that was the theory behind the enormous amount of effort and money invested in bringing these jobs to Haiti. In 2008, the U.S. Congress passed the Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2008 (HOPE II), providing customs exemptions that strongly incentivize corporations to import goods to the US. assembled by the Haitian textile and garment industry. This policy received a prominent imprimatur in 2009, when Paul Collier, an Oxford professor of economics and former director of the World Bank’s Development Research Group, prepared a report on Haiti at the request of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The key to Haiti’s economic recovery, Collier concluded, is the Haitian garment industry and its potential to create hundreds of thousands of Haitian jobs.
Collier expressed no concerns over the likelihood that those jobs would pay sub-poverty salaries. In fact, Collier and others see the key to Haiti’s future in the large supply of desperate Haitians willing to work for rock-bottom wages. “Due to its poverty and relatively unregulated labour market, Haiti has labour costs that are fully competitive with China, which is the global benchmark,” he wrote in the report.
The U.S. has worked hard to keep them that way. Diplomatic cables obtained by Wikileaks show that the U.S. State Department assisted contractors for Fruit of the Loom, Hanes, and Levi’s in a successful campaign to block a planned minimum wage increase unanimously approved by the Haitian Parliament in 2009. That increase, driven by a series of worker strikes and demonstrations, would have compelled the contractors to pay 62 cents per hour (about $5 per day) to Haitians sewing clothing for sale overseas. But Haitian government leaders caved in to U.S. pressure and dropped the textile industry minimum wage to about $3/day. The U.S. then provided more assistance to Haitian garment companies through duty exemptions in the Haiti Economic Lift Program (HELP) Act in 2010. Though this legislative largest cut overhead for the companies, Haitian workers are still the lowest paid in the hemisphere.
David explains what that pay scale means in real terms. Gesturing in the direction of the workers leaving the industrial park, he says that most of them earn about 200 Haitian gourdes per day. The typical exchange rate is 40 Haitian gourdes for one U.S. dollar, so their salary equals about $5 each day. By the time they pay for transportation to work and a simple meal of plain spaghetti and juice during the workday, they head home with only 40 gourdes, about one U.S. dollar. And they have not yet paid for dinner or housing. Yet unemployment is so pervasive here that the companies count on a reliable supply of Haitians willing to do the work at these sub-poverty wages—just as Paul Collier predicted.
David’s cost of living analysis was backed up by other Haitians I talked with. In 2011, the AFL-CIO-supported Solidarity Center conducted a study estimating the living wage for apparel workers in Port-au-Prince. Factoring in the costs of necessities like food, housing, cooking fuel and child care, the Solidarity Center estimated a living wage for an adult with two dependents to be 1,152 gourdes (about $29) per day.
The current wave of global support for garment-export-based economic development in Haiti has a precedent, as does the resulting struggle by Haitian workers to make ends meet. Under the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier in the ’70s, the U.S. Agency for International Development launched a campaign to transform Haiti into the “Taiwan of the Caribbean,” i.e. the supplier of the cheapest export-assembly labor in the Western Hemisphere.
Wages were held down by enormous unemployment and by little prospect of worker activism under a repressive regime. Duvalier, politically and financially indebted to the U.S. and the International Monetary Fund, agreed to a neoliberal economic regimen that eliminated nearly every obstacle to free trade. By 1984, Haiti had become the 9th-largest supplier of goods to the U.S., mostly assembled products such as baseballs, clothing and toys.
The assembly companies and their U.S. consumers benefited from the arrangement. But a host country does not get much value from an industry where raw materials are imported in and the assembled products are shipped out. The coveted “multiplier effect,” produced when goods are produced and purchased locally, is absent from this export-only model. Combined with sub-poverty wages that provided little purchasing power to workers, the result was that all of the bustling export-assembly activity did not move the economic needle for the Haitian people.
Haiti certainly needs economic developm
ent, b
ut there are other models to pursue, including agricultural practices the Haitian people successfully followed for generations. Separate from the often-dysfunctional government, rural Haitians adhered to the lakou system of property management that divided former plantations into small plots and yielded crops that supported the extended families living there. Haiti met its own food needs and exported to other countries.
But heavy-handed U.S. policies destroyed that legacy. Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, the IMF, with the U.S. as its largest shareholder and dominant voice, forced Haiti to dramatically reduce tariffs on imported staples. The Haitian tariff on rice, for example, was dropped from 50 percent to the current rate of 3 percent, compared to a regional average of 20 percent. Haitian farmers can no longer compete with food imports from the U.S. and other countries, where crops are highly subsidized by their governments. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Haitians have migrated from the countryside to Port-au-Prince, where they compete to provide cheap labor for garment-assembly companies under harsh conditions.
David says his workplace, at a company called Interamerican Woven, is brutally hot—a literal sweatshop—with little ventilation and limited potable water. An October 2012 report, produced by the International Labor Organization as part of the Hope II legislation, confirms that the company and several others failed to meet baseline requirements for workplace conditions, such as high temperatures and clean drinking water. The report includes similar findings for several other garment assembly companies.
Jackson works for one of those companies, Global Manufacturers and Contractors, assembling T-shirts with tags like Hanes and Champion. Jackson and his wife have two young children. To make ends meet, both parents work six days per week in garment factories. Jackson’s wife skips church on Sunday to report to an additional part-time job. Yet they still must borrow from family and friends to pay the rent and keep food on the table.
Like David, Jackson is an active member of a syndicat of workers advocating for better wages and conditions. Company management pushes against the union, they say, harassing its members whenever possible. Recent investigations by the International Labor Organization and Haiti Grassroots Watch confirmed widespread union-busting in the Haitian apparel industry. “The people fired for being part of the union make a list this long, “ Jackson says, holding his hands two feet apart. “They find a different reason to let them go, but they are tagged because they are part of the syndicat.”
The companies could easily pay their employees better, Jackson says. His position is backed up by economic analysis by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, which reviewed the competitiveness of the Haitian garment assembly industry in 2011. The report concluded that preferential market access to the U.S. provided by HOPE II and HELP, along with comparatively low sea freight costs, provide a distinct market advantage to these companies. “The argument that factories in Haiti can’t raise wages is bogus, as they have some of the most competitive costs in the world already,” says Jake Johnston, a researcher on Haiti issues for the Center on Economic and Policy Research.
The T-shirts Jackson makes for GMC are shipped to Etazini—the U.S.—so I ask him if he has any message for Americans. He thinks for a moment, then replies in Creole. “Wi. I appeal to their conscience and hope they ask questions about what they are buying. We make T-shirts for cents, they buy them for dollars,” he says. “That is the reason we come together to support each other; to fight for fairness.”
Name of workers in this piece have been changed to protect them from retaliation.
The New Global Demand for Made in USA
in UncategorizedNot only did U.S. exports outpace the growth of imports in 2012 for the first time since 2007, exports have helped support creation of more than 6 million private sector jobs during the past 35 months. So how does this relate to the business climate here in Salt Lake City? Simple: Our nation’s success with exports has in part been driven by business owners in the Beehive State.
Take, for example, Albion Minerals of Clearfield. One year ago, the company participated in a trade mission to Vietnam that was organized by a collaboration of public and private sector groups, including the state government, the U.S. Commercial Service of Utah, and our strategic partner Zions Bank. The company has since opened a distribution center in Vietnam in a $100,000 deal and expects to see profits grow.
As we mark the third anniversary of the National Export Initiative, a program launched by President Obama to expand exports and support an increase of 2 million jobs here at home, we do have something to celebrate. U.S. exports grew by almost $100 billion from 2011 to 2012, reaching a record $2.2 trillion. And exports supported 1.3 million more jobs between 2009 and 2012, more than 60 percent toward our goal.
We’re also seeing progress as we mark the first anniversary this month of the United States-Korea Trade Agreement, which opened market access for U.S. businesses to a rapidly growing Asian economy.
In the president’s recent State of the Union speech, he announced his intent to launch talks with the European Union to forge a transatlantic trade and investment partnership, an agreement that can impact almost half of the world¹s economic activity. (The U.S. and the E.U. represent the largest economic relationship in the world. Our joint gross domestic product accounts for 45 percent of global GDP and includes more than 800 million consumers.)
A comprehensive trade agreement with our transatlantic partners, along with those with whom we are negotiating in the Asia-Pacific region and an international services trade agreement will be good for American businesses and workers. Communities around Clearfield and across the country can trust that smart, responsible, job-focused trade agreements support good-paying jobs for workers here in Utah. I look forward to working with my colleagues throughout the Obama administration to continue to pursue trade policies that help American companies compete.
Francisco J. Sánchez is the under secretary of commerce for international trade. He leads the International Trade Administration, a federal agency with that promotes U.S. businesses and global competitiveness.
How 108 Year Old J.W. Hulme Is Reinvesting In America’s Manufacturing Roots
in UncategorizedTimes were tough for Guarino and Hulme, a company that in five years she’d grown from losses on revenues of $450,000 to a profitable $1.4 million. And while she couldn’t have imagined during those dark days that a Wall Street Journal write up of her flailing company would have been the beacon that attracted the investor who saved J.W. Hulme, she absolutely wouldn’t have dreamt of the challenge that she faces today.
The company, it should be known, is doing incredibly well these days—luxury luggage and handbags are sold through catalogues, showrooms and high-end retailers like Barneys to the tune of $5 million projected revenues this year. What’s the problem then? Despite the success and ever-growing clamor for her company’s products, Guarino is plagued by an aging workforce and serious dearth of trained artisans and sewers to replace them. She’s got a great product that’s selling like hot-cakes, but when it comes to finding employees to manufacture it in her St. Paul factory, she’s coming up short.
The manufacturing floor of J.W. Hulme, where artisans manufacture more than 250 leather and canvas products from small leather goods to luxury luggage, has been dominated by baby boomers and their parents for the past decade. “We have a good chunk of sewers that are 55 plus,” she says. “But what seems to have happened is that a whole generation has been skipped in the workforce. When manufacturing started going to China, America stopped investing in training in trades, and we’re seeing the repercussions of that in U.S. factories who are trying to stay alive.”
When she looked to her right and her left at chamber of commerce and trade organization meetings in the upper Midwest, Guarino quickly found that she wasn’t alone. The complaint in the Minnesota manufacturing community—once a hotbed of outerwear and shoe manufacturing — was unanimous: not only were business owners unable to find enough skilled workers to meet demand, they were missing out on contracts because of it. “We’re turning down work,” they told her. “We get called all the time to bring production back to the states and we can’t take it.”
Their workforces were simply maxed out. “None of it was about money or equipment,” Guarino says. In every conversation, the pain point was about finding skilled labor.
But rather than resign themselves to defeat, Guarino, an executive with a fine-art background who has come to consider herself a “guardian of trade” and a band of 20 local business owners in the cut-and-sew industry, have banded together to form The Maker’s Coalition. Guarino describes it as a hands-on movement to revitalize the industrial sewing heritage of the Midwest, but stresses that it’s a model that could easily be brought to other nascent manufacturing hubs around the country. “We’re working together to find, train and employ a workforce for today,” she says, “And for future generations.”
Guarino, the former brand manager for The Sak, moved to Minnesota in 2000 for love and had long dreamt of building her own company from the ground up. “That [relationship]ended, but I stayed,” she says, and she was working as a consultant in St. Paul when her future business partner, Bidwell, came to her with a unique opportunity. “He handed me this one inch by one inch classified he’d found in the paper that read ‘Bag company approaching 100 years old needs capital partner.’” A bag company? In St. Paul? Guarino says she felt her future become clear.
Guarino set the company on an upstream path with just two years to go before Hulme’s 100th anniversary. She was impressed, more than anything else, by the skill-level of the artisans and sewers in the factory, and decided to cut private label manufacturing from the company’s books. “Rather than continuing to compete with Orvis, we started working with leathers, picking better materials, we expanded and upgraded in every way possible.” By 2006 the company had turned a profit on revenues of $1.4 million—up 89% in the three years under Guarino’s leadership.
Getting those employees back on the floor in the fall of 2009 after Olympus revived J.W. Hulme with a $550,000 investment (Guarino and Bidwell retain a 35% stake) was of the utmost importance. Olympus expected a profitable Holiday season, and were particularly optimistic about the company’s positioning as a home-grown brand. “I’m always interested in companies that actually make things in the U.S,” said Olympus CEO Dean Vanech at the time. “And the Americana theme is really strong right now in retail, so I think this is a good time for Hulme.”
But the increased focus on made in America goods was more than just a retail trend—and Guarino credits the movement across industries with the energy and excitement behind her initiative to retrain Americans in traditional craftsmanship. Along with the Maker’s Coalition (and with funding from The United Way) she has led the charge in cre
ating cur
riculum at local community colleges that she believes will be the answer to her own business needs as well as the industry’s. “And that’s not even going into how many kids are graduating from college with no job prospects and mountains of debts,” she says as an aside. The low-cost 22-week program established in St. Paul costs students just $3,800. The first class will graduate this May.
“Look, what this is really about is being able to say yes when someone calls us wanting to bring their manufacturing business back to the U.S.,” Guarino says. “I’m not a purist. I’m not saying that everything in our homes should be made in the U.S.A and I’m not saying we could produce every shirt in WalMart. I know we can’t! But if we can train workers well enough to be able to bring even 10% of the manufacturing industry back to the country, the economic impact would be undeniable.”
Consumers May Be Fooled By Deceptive Labels
in UncategorizedSubway has long promoted its footlong sandwiches. So when customers caught the company serving shorter sandwiches, they took their complaints to Facebook, garnering media attention.
The Colbert Report’s Stephen Colbert was among those who spoke out.
“We have been five-dollar footwronged!” Colbert had said at the time.
Subway has since issued the following statement:
“We have redoubled our efforts to ensure consistency and correct length in every sandwich we serve.”
Consumer Reports found other products that disappointed customers, too.
The Allergy Luxe Premium Bed Bug Mattress Protector boasts that it provides “luxurious fabric protection against bed bugs, dust mites & allergens.”
Consumer Reports learned this was not the case.
“If you turn the package over and read the fine print at the bottom, it says ‘the manufacturer makes no claim that this product will prevent or inhibit human exposure to insects, allergens, mold or other microbial matter,'” said Tod Marks, Consumer Reports.
The packaging for the Cuddly Sherpa Throw shows cute lambs. But upon closer examination, the label says it is made from “100% polyester.”
Looking for products that are made in America can be confusing as well.
“Just because you see a symbol like an American flag doesn’t mean it was American-made at all,” said Marks. The American Glove Company says “We Glove The USA.” But the label says otherwise; it’s made in Vietnam.
One would assume the dish towels made by American Mills were also manufactured in the U.S. They’re actually made in China.
Unfortunately, confusing words and images aren’t necessarily forbidden by the Federal Trade Commission, which is responsible for monitoring deceptive product claims.
“What would a reasonable consumer think, they ask. And even there it’s not clear cut,” said Marks.
Reading labels closely is a good habit to get into. Consumer Reports says if you believe you’ve been mislead about a product, complain to the manufacturer directly. You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.ftc.gov.
Morning News Beat Walmart Watch
in UncategorizedAn excerpt: “While global sourcing remains a significant source of EDLC opportunity, we believe that the $50B commitment to increase domestic sourcing over the next decade should benefit topline and profitability at WMT U.S.
“Domestic sourcing will help the company avoid wage inflation overseas and shipping costs, while increasing flexibility through shorter lead times and generating positive reputational buzz. WMT U.S. kicked off the initiative this week with Georgia state sourced towels, priced at $8.97 for bath size. They are offered in 600 stores and will be in an additional 600 stores by Sept., supported by local marketing.”
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin Stumps for Bill Requiring National Manufacturing Strategy
in Uncategorized“In the 1970s, when I was just a young congressman, almost 20 million Americans were employed directly in manufacturing and represented over 20 percent of our non-farm work force in America,” Harkin said. “Today, that number has fallen to about 12 million and only 9 percent of all non-farm workers in America.
“You might say ‘as manufacturing goes, so goes the economy.’ As manufacturing employment has fallen, we’ve seen wages stagnate, our trade deficit increase, unionization rates plummet and less domestic innovation.”
Harkin said that trend also has played out in Iowa with the loss of almost 50,000 manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2010.
“Many have pointed to factors like technology change and globalization as causes for these trends, but keep in mind that those factors also have been affecting manufacturing in other countries,” Harkin added. “I tend think that the lack of a coherent manufacturing strategy to harness the power of technological changes and respond to globalization has made it harder for American manufacturers to compete.
“The United States is one of the only developed nations without a national manufacturing strategy.”
Harkin’s bill would require the president to identify sectors and emerging technologies in which U.S. manufacturing can grow and be most competitive internationally. It also would require the executive branch to survey the policies in place across the federal government that affect U.S. manufacturing and compare those policies other countries have in place to support their manufacturing sectors.
The president also would recommend to Congress policies and actions to support American manufacturing. Harkin said that might involve changes in regulations, taxation and trade policy.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, has introduced an identical proposal in the House of Representatives. Harkin believes the bills have a good chance of passing both chambers and moving to President Obama for his signature.
Harkin toured American Profol, which employs about 80 to produce polypropylene films used for adhesive-coated tapes, heat-sealed bags, printed banners, DVD case overlays, multi-layer laminates, automotive and construction films and magazine overwraps.
American Profol President Mark Thoeny said a spike in orders prompted the manufacturer to add a sixth production line in 2011 at a cost of $13 million. He said it became clear that customers had ordered too much inventory in anticipation of an economic recovery.
Maybe Manufacturing Jobs Still Pay More
in Uncategorized“When you’re trying to compare apples to apples,” Doms said, “you do see this manufacturing wage premium [has] been robust over time.”
Manufacturing has been a rare success industry in the recovery from the Great Recession, adding 500,000 jobs since the end of 2009. President Obama often hails it as a vehicle for middle-class prosperity.
From the mid-1970s to the eve of the recession, non-supervisory workers in manufacturing earned more per hour on average than the national average for all industries. During the recession and in the years that followed, however, hourly manufacturing pay fell behind the national average. In January, the average hourly wage for a manufacturing production worker was $19.23, compared with $19.97 for the private sector as a whole.
Commerce economists say the full picture is more complicated — and more favorable to manufacturing. They calculated in a report last year that medical and retirement benefits are 60 percent more lucrative per hour for factory workers than non-factory workers. When they compared workers with similar skills across industries, they found wages and benefits added up to a 17 percent advantage for manufacturing employees, an advantage that has held even as industry employment has shifted away from union jobs to lower-paying nonunion ones.
Doms says there are several explanations for that premium. Factory employees tend to work more hours per week and more weeks per year than other workers, he said, a difference that adds up — just like the compensation premium — to 17 percent.
If you include supervisors, who earn more than non-supervisory workers, factory employees earn more per hour than non-factory ones, he said.
Perhaps the simplest, time-tested explanation for why manufacturing jobs pay a premium is that the industry boasts consistently high productivity. There was new evidence of that in Labor Department statistics released Thursday. They showed manufacturing productivity increased by 2.2 percent last year, compared with 0.7 percent for the private sector as a whole.
Correspondingly, real hourly compensation for factory workers rose 0.2 percent for the year. Across the entire private sector, that compensation fell by 0.6 percent.
Manufacturing Sector Rebounds
in Uncategorized“I think companies are still cautious, but they’re starting to get going again,” said Mark Kapfer, Eastern Iowa Community College’s executive director for economic development. “But if you don’t have skills, you better get them.”
Dr. Bruce Storey, Black Hawk College’s director of educational services, agreed.
“While the unemployment rate is getting better, we’ve noticed it’s getting better for the people with degrees. Someone with a high school diploma, a GED or no work experience is having a terrible time. The AA (associate’s degree) is the new high school degree.”
The two educators said the jobs most in demand among Quad-City manufacturers are for CNC (computerized numerical control) operators, engineering technicians, welders, mechanical maintenance and electrical maintenance workers.
“If you want to be in manufacturing, the way I’d go is CNC. That’s the hot job,” Storey said. “Some people are just afraid of the math and the computers.”
Tara Barney, chief executive officer of the Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce, said the growth in the manufacturing sector comes as companies add jobs at a modest rate.
“But they’re adding high-quality jobs and when they have a client with a specific need,” she said.
Citing data from a Quad-City laborshed study, Barney said manufacturing jobs saw an increase in the laborshed from between 73,000 and 74,000 in 2010 to “85,508 in 2012, precisely.”
The laborshed, which is much larger than the four-county metropolitan statistical area, takes in a 70-mile radius around the Quad-Cities in Iowa and Illinois from which the metro Quad-Cities draws its workforce. Barney said the laborshed also shows average annual manufacturing salaries jumped from $65,000 in 2010 to $80,000 in 2012.
But job-seekers serious about a manufacturing career will need to bring higher skills to the table — be it through associate’s degrees, apprentice programs, certificates or other training.
Tricia Rosenberg of Annawan, Ill., knows that first-hand. After pursing CNC training at Eastern Iowa Community College’s Blong Technology Center, she landed a production job at Uniparts Olsen in Eldridge.
After a couple of years of running a CNC and a lathe, she has been promoted to educational training coordinator.
“I love this. It is so hands-on and different every day,” she said.
Rosenberg, 31, trains her co-workers to read parts blueprints and to do programming, some of the same skills she teaches students at the Blong Center, where she is a part-time adjunct instructor.
“It’s not the old thinking where it used to be a boys club,” she said of the manufacturing sector. Although she followed her father into manufacturing, the industry is opening up to more women and attracting others who had once been scared away because of the thought that it was heavy lifting, she said.
At Uniparts Olsen, she said wages range from $10 to $13 an hour for manufacturing jobs and $11.50 to $14 for CNC jobs. Those with more training and experience often get hired first and earn the higher wages, she said.
Looking ahead, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates employment of manufacturing maintenance and repair workers is expected to grow 11 percent during the 2008-2018 decade.
Data from Eastern Iowa Community College indicates general maintenance and repair workers can expect median hourly wages of $16.21 an hour. Here are some of the other starting hourly wages: mechanical design technology $16.33; electromechanical systems $18.60; renewable energy systems specialist $11.78; industrial engineering technology/CNC machining $13.87; welding $12.73; and logistics/supply chain $12.33.
Additionally, Black Hawk College said these are annual salaries for other related jobs: welders, $35,000-$40,000; CNC, $40,000 and up; and engineering technician, $35,000 to $55,000 depending on the career.
“Fifty years ago, you got out of high school, went to Deere and stayed there for your whole life,” Storey said. “That doesn’t happen anymore.”
“Buying American” Generally Matters More to Women Than Men
in UncategorizedOn each count, 18-35-year-olds were significantly less likely than any other generation to believe that “buying American” is important to them.
The survey finds that the definition of what constitutes “buying American” isn’t universally agreed upon. Three-quarters agree that a product needs to be manufactured within the US for them to consider it “American,” while a slight majority believe that it needs to be made by an American company for them to consider it “American.” Close behind, 47% agree that a product needs to be made from parts produced in the US for them to consider it “American.”
As the researchers note, the company perceived by respondents to be the most “American” – Ford – increasingly has cars which include parts produced abroad. Other companies showing up in the most “American” list – such as GE and Levi Strauss – also outsource some of their operations overseas.
Regardless of the extent to which these companies’ products meet consumer definitions, “Made in America” packaging can influence consumers. A study released last year by Perception Research Services found that about 8 in 10 shoppers notice “Made in the USA” claims in packaging, and about three-quarters of those believe that such claims make them more likely to buy the product.
According to the Harris survey results, the most commonly-cited important reasons for “buying American” are to keep jobs in America (90%), to support American companies (87%), and due to quality (83%) and safety (82%) concerns with products assembled outside of the US.
About the Data: The Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between December 12 and 18, 2012 among 2,176 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.
Data for the “What company do you consider to be most ‘American’” question was conducted online within the United States between January 2 and 4, 2012 among 2,126 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.
Europeans Want U.S. to Ditch “Buy American” Rules
in UncategorizedIt’s not surprising that Europe wants to replace U.S. businesses and workers in government contracts. The U.S. federal government is the biggest consumer in the world… and when you add in the state and local governments, it’s really big. From the U.S. side there is simply no way we’d come away with a net benefit with theoretical market access by our so-called “U.S.” multinationals (who don’t really consider themselves U.S. anymore) to other smaller government procurement markets. It simply doesn’t ever work that way.
I’m not sure where the Obama Administration is coming from on this. The biggest source of jobs and growth will come from reducing the trade deficit. We had a record $735B goods trade deficit last year, including a $300B goods deficit with China. Trade deals simply don’t help the trade deficit, usually make things worse, and tie our hands for fixing the problem.
The Global Push for American Made
in UncategorizedNot only did U.S. exports outpace the growth of imports in 2012 for the first time since 2007, but exports have helped support the creation of more than 6 million private-sector jobs during the past 35 months. The world wants what America makes.
So how does this relate to the business climate here in Charleston? Simple: Our nation’s success with exports has in part been driven by business owners right here in this state.
Take, for example, Florence-based Carbis Inc., which has worked with the U.S. Commercial Service of S.C. to export goods and establish a stronger presence in China, Japan and India. Through this partnership, Carbis has established an outpost in China, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The company has also expanded its sales to Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia — and reports an increase in year-over-year export sales.
I’m looking forward to joining the Charleston community at a March 20 event to celebrate these and other local efforts to power our nation’s economy through exporting and improved trade relations.
As we mark the third anniversary of the National Export Initiative — a program launched by President Obama to expand exports and support an increase of 2 million jobs here at home — we do have something to celebrate. U.S. exports grew almost $100 billion from 2011 to 2012, reaching a record $2.2 trillion. And exports supported 1.3 million more jobs between 2009 and 2012 — more than 60% toward our goal.
We’re also seeing progress as we mark the first anniversary this month of the United States-Korea Trade Agreement, which opened market access for U.S. businesses to a rapidly growing Asian economy interested in American products.
The latest development in our work to open more channels for trade came in the president’s recent State of the Union speech. The president announced his intent to launch talks with the European Union to forge a transatlantic trade and investment partnership, an agreement that can impact almost half of the world’s economic activity. The United States and the EU represent the largest economic relationship in the world. Our joint gross domestic product accounts for 45% of global GDP, and includes more than 800 million consumers. A comprehensive trade agreement with our transatlantic partners — along with those with whom we are negotiating in the Asia-Pacific region and an international services trade agreement — will be good for American businesses and American workers, supporting good-paying jobs right here at home.
According to recent data, nearly half of the growth in U.S. exports in 2012 was to countries where we have trade agreements in place. Communities around Charleston and across the country can trust that smart, responsible, job-focused trade agreements are important as they support good-paying jobs for workers here in South Carolina. I look forward to working with my colleagues throughout the Obama Administration to continue to pursue trade policies that help American companies compete in the global marketplace.
Our businesses that create jobs, our workers who are hungry to compete in this global marketplace and this state’s future economic success will all benefit if we do.
Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco J. Sánchez leads the International Trade Administration, a federal agency with commercial offices across the U.S. and the globe that promotes U.S. businesses and global competitiveness. Sánchez will be the keynote speaker during the World Trade Center Charleston: Metro Export Initiative on March 20 at the Charleston Area Convention Center. For more information, click here.