Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Manufacturing in decline?

There has been a great deal of talk surround manufacturing as the economy continues to lag.  Rick Santorum pounds the drum about manufacturing being in decline (every chance he gets).

The real problem with manufacturing is not output. That continues to go up. What people perceive as a decline in manufacturing is just a surge in productivity. More productivity = fewer employees. Look at the attached charts. The first shows industrial production. It keeps going up (except for this pesky recession which derailed it a bit). 

Now look at the second chart. It show employees in the manufacturing sector. It is trending downward.

Those jobs are never coming back. New, higher skill manufacturing jobs are emerging; but those require more education.  Continual self improvement is the best way to guarantee future employment.