Salon.com > Manufacturing

No, manufacturing jobs won’t revive the economy

Sat, 29 Jun 2013 19:00:00 +0000

In the American imagination, the phrases “the decline of the middle class” and “the loss of factory jobs” are almost inextricably linked. But the promise of a U.S. manufacturing revival has gained strength and currency in policy circles, with many arguing it’s a way to turn the economy around. President Obama has trumpeted the growth of factory jobs in speech after speech. “Think about the America within our reach,” he told his audience at last year’s State of the Union address. “An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs!”

But, for all the optimism and nostalgia for an America that once was, it’s worth asking whether factory jobs are more likely to help workers rise to the middle class today -- or leave them stranded among the working poor.

Elena Suarez was on her lunch break, taking a walk on the side of the road in the industrial park where she works, and eating a sandwich as she walked, when I stopped her to ask about her job. She’s a machine operator at Resonetics, a manufacturing company in Nashua, New Hampshire that specializes in precision laser micromachining for the medical device industry.

FAA grounds Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 23:50:00 +0000

The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered the grounding of Boeing 787 Dreamliners following a battery fire in Japan:

The agency said it would:

Issue an emergency airworthiness directive (AD) to address a potential battery fire risk in the 787 and require operators to temporarily cease operations. Before further flight, operators of U.S.-registered, Boeing 787 aircraft must demonstrate to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that the batteries are safe...

“The battery failures resulted in release of flammable electrolytes, heat damage, and smoke on two Model 787 airplanes. The root cause of these failures is currently under investigation. These conditions, if not corrected, could result in damage to critical systems and structures, and the potential for fire in the electrical compartment.Last Friday, the FAA announced a comprehensive review of the 787’s critical systems with the possibility of further action pending new data and information.

There was another on-the-ground battery fire earlier this month in Boston.

The planes, which have been hailed as the future of commercial aviation because of their low fuel consumption, represent a huge bet for Boeing against its primary rival Airbus. Boeing is one of corporate America's largest exporters by value.

United is currently the only U.S. airline operating the Dreamliner.

US adds 146,000 jobs

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:55:00 +0000

Economists were way off the mark with their predictions for today's jobs report. The first report since President Obama's reelection saw the economy adding 146,000 jobs and the unemployment rate falling to 7.7 percent -- trumping predictions that only 86,000 jobs would be added.

Tepid forecasts were partly tied to Hurricane Sandy, which economists believed would hamper job growth -- and indeed, November's numbers were somewhat lower than in previous months' job reports. In August, September and October an average of 170,000 were added each month. Meanwhile, November's jobless rate was the lowest since December 2008, despite Gallup predictions of an unemployment surge. The pollster put unemployment in November at 8.3 percent (compared to the government's 7.7 percent).

Manufacturing jobs fell by 7,000 and as our own Andrew Leonard noted Friday, despite a media frenzy, the decision by Apple to manufacture one line of Macs in the U.S., alongside other "insourcing" efforts by U.S. corporations, does not mark a glorious renaissance in U.S. manufacturing.

Apple to resume US manufacturing

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 14:18:00 +0000

Apple is bringing a branch of its manufacturing back within U.S. borders, CEO Tim Cook announced in interviews with Bloomberg Businessweek and NBC's "Rock Center." An existing Mac computer line will be exclusively manufactured in the U.S. said Cook, who took over as CEO from Steve Jobs in August 2011.

Last year, President Obama candidly asked Steve Jobs about the outsourcing of almost all Apple manufacturing jobs overseas.“Those jobs aren’t coming back,” Jobs reportedly told the president. But, according to Cook's announcement, Apple has not abandoned American manufacturing.

"We’ve been working for years on doing more and more in the United States,” the CEO told NBC's Brian Williams. Cook told Businessweek that Apple -- the biggest company in the world by market value -- had a responsibility to create U.S. jobs. He did, however, note that the U.S. education system is failing to produce enough people with the skills needed for modern manufacturing processes.