This today from Market Watch:
Made in the U.S.A. is hot again, and the number of manufacturing jobs that are returning to the U.S. — or coming to the U.S. for the first time — from overseas has hit a record level.
Sixty thousand manufacturing jobs were added in the U.S. in 2014, versus 12,000 in 2003, either through so-called reshoring, in which American companies bring jobs back to the U.S., or foreign direct investment, in which foreign companies move production to the U.S., according to a study from the Reshoring Initiative. In contrast, as many as 50,000 jobs were “offshored” last year, a decline from about 150,000 in 2003.
Why is this significant? 2014’s net increase of at least 10,000 jobs was the first net gain in at least 20 years, Harry Moser, Reshoring’s founder and president, told MarketWatch. “The trend in manufacturing in the U.S. is to source domestically,” Moser said. “With 3 [million] to 4 million manufacturing jobs still offshore, we see huge potential for even more growth.”
One big catalyst behind the trend: Escalating wages in traditionally lower-cost countries, including China, have made companies reconsider sourcing strategies.
Catalyst: Fracking, Abundant Natural Gas. Long term deals having been signed over the past few years bringing an industrial base back.
ReplyDeleteAnti catalyst: Environmentalists fighting placement of new pipelines that can cheaply supply hundreds of years of enegry. Environmentalist would rather see China's plants spewing coal fired haze.
ReplyDeleteAnti catalyst: Railroads. Now moving tanker after tanker of fracked oil through small towns fighting cheaper and safer pipelines.
Catalyst is in fact wage increases in China and other overseas producers, quality issues with foreign made items and an advanced American workforce. William I know that nobody here knows a damn thing except you but I have posted many articles over the last couple of years on exactly this subject. But of course since there was no Obama bashing going on you skim over and move on because you don't want to know the truth. The huge American conglomerate know as Jarden Corp has been on-shoring a lot of their products since about 2011 or so. Who is Jarden? Well they make a whole bunch of shit that we use everyday. And a whole bunch more shit that are niche items. Matches, playing cards, toothpicks, small kitchen appliances, fishing equipment, canning jars, arts and crafts supplies, camping equipment, firelogs, baby stuff and even Yankee candles. Surprise William while you were under the bed they off shored every damn bit of it except the candles and the jars and today they have brought a great deal of it back. Also have you ever heard of Tom Kartsotis? He founded Fossil Brands which he took public and with his new found wealth he started Bedrock Manufacturing in Detroit, a piece of the revival of that city. Why did he go to Detroit? because it was a city with an advanced workforce due to the work people had done for the auto builders. In Detroit Kartsotis set up the Shinola Mfg company at the old GM R&D building. Shinola is making high end American made Watches with American made parts for the first time since the 1950's. Shinola is making high end American made bikes, selling in the range of 1200 dollars each totally hand made by Americans. Kartsotis is also developing a new line of leather goods to compete with Coach and all American made. Jarden nor Kartsotis either one mentioned fracking or natural gas in any of their press releases concerning their businesses, what they did mention was a superb American workforce, a raising of wages overseas making offshoring a loser for many products and quality issues with items made by a foreign workforce.
ReplyDeleteThe leader of this trend is walmart of all companies. With their new initiative on selling American made goods they may create 1 million direct and indirect American jobs. Another big player GE who has brought a great deal of their light bulb manufacturing and water heater manufacturing back to the US along with their small appliance division. Ford has closed plants in Mexico and now manufactures the F650 the F750 and the Ford Fusion Stateside. GM closed an engine manufacturing plant in Mexico and moved those operations Texas. caterpillar is leaving Japan with 1400 jobs and returning them to Ohio. And NCR now makes their ATM's and self serve checkouts in Missouri. And still not one of them has mentioned fracking William not one.
ReplyDeleteCAT is moving some of their stuff back to Ohio because of the Marcellus shale.
Deletehttp://geology.com/articles/marcellus-shale.shtml
I know you think Chinese Communist wage rates control the world but fracking in the long run will determine America's next century.
If I liked you ric I would give you a couple of stocks you could make substantial gains with, but that would be so anti-progressive. So I won't.
Whatever William. Go back under the bed.
DeleteCat is moving back to Ohio because of a quality workforce. If it has anything to do with fracking It is to be nearer the market for the products they make not because of the product that is being produced
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ReplyDeleteIt all comes back to American consumers. Without demand for American made products, you get cheap imports and exported jobs. Think about the last time you picked up the 10 buck hammer instead of the 5 dollar made in China version.
ReplyDeleteAren't Stanley tools all made in China?
DeleteLouman is more right then William with his fracking analogy. Many companies on shoring do cite nearness to the market allowing them to be more agile and follow trends more closely as a MAJOR reason to come back home. When trends change and you have a freighter full of unwanted goods out in the Pacific or sitting in some port you are screwed. All the product has to be sold at a reduced price because nobody wants it anymore and trends today do change that fast.
DeleteThe dirty little secret is that's it's supply side. Supply of gas, supply of quality labor, supply of right leaning government, even supply of (heavens no how could it be?) DEMAND.
DeleteCAT is shifting more towards Ohio because of all of these factors, but without the gas resource this shift would only be a token.
William, then there is this:
DeleteA New York Times investigation has examined and tallied thousands of local incentives granted nationwide and has found that states, counties and cities are giving up more than $80 billion each year to companies. The beneficiaries come from virtually every corner of the corporate world, encompassing oil and coal conglomerates, technology and entertainment companies, banks and big-box retail chains.
The cost of the awards is certainly far higher. A full accounting, The Times discovered, is not possible because the incentives are granted by thousands of government agencies and officials, and many do not know the value of all their awards. Nor do they know if the money was worth it because they rarely track how many jobs are created. Even where officials do track incentives, they acknowledge that it is impossible to know whether the jobs would have been created without the aid.
“How can you even talk about rationalizing what you’re doing when you don’t even know what you’re doing?” said Timothy J. Bartik, a senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, Mich.
The Times analyzed more than 150,000 awards and created a searchable database of incentive spending. The survey was supplemented by interviews with more than 100 officials in government and business organizations as well as corporate executives and consultants.
A portrait arises of mayors and governors who are desperate to create jobs, outmatched by multinational corporations and short on tools to fact-check what companies tell them. Many of the officials said they feared that companies would move jobs overseas if they did not get subsidies in the United States.
You invest in incentives.
DeleteI'll invest in gas resource.
I never heard such bullshit.
William,
DeleteGovernment, all levels give free land, reduced taxes, tax free zones to business to incentivize them to move jobs into an area. Happens every day of the week. It's called buying future tax dollars. It's called subsidizing.
In Denver the Football team threatened to move to another city. Denver offered a new stadium, all revenues from the stadium. All parking. All income from programs concessions.
The city got a 3 dollar seat tax. The taxpayers pay for the stadium that most cannot afford a seat.
It's called extortion Iouman. A place used by an NFL team maybe 10 games a year is not creating economy. It's letting the boys boast that they run with the big bucks.
DeleteYou want economy? Cut the citizens taxes.
Yes it is extortion.
DeleteWe now have a baseball and football stadium, both owners doubled the value of their teams the moment they signed the contracts. The taxpayers of course foot the bill.
My first tool set was SK. I still have those tools… all the rest are Craftsman. Craftsman no longer makes many of its hand tools in the US. Below is a letter by their customer service.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon Mr. ,
Thank you for contacting Sears.com.
We appreciate your loyalty to the Craftsman brand. Please understand that our decision to manufacture some of our Craftsman tools outside the United States was not made lightly. Craftsman customers demand a high quality product at a value added price point and that it be backed by our Forever warranty. In order to be able to deliver all three of these benefits, we decided to manufacture some of our Craftsman tools outside of the USA. We hope you will continue to support the Craftsman brand.
We appreciate your business and hope you will continue to make Sears Holdings your choice for quality and value. Please let us know if we can assist you further. We are here to help.
Anne B.
Sears Customer Care
webcenter@customerservice.sears.com
1-800-366-3028
As for SK, they filed for bankruptcy in mid 2010… Along with production cost problems of keeping their ‘Made in the USA’ tradition the straw that broke the camel’s back was a 2+ month worker strike that put it out of business… ‘Cutting our nose off to spite our face’ comes to mind….
I have no problem with a worker taking his skill anywhere in the world and negotiating a price for their skill… I do have a problem when my country unilaterally openings its arms to other workers while other countries will put me in jail… I have a problem the government playing favorites with things like the export bank… I have a problem with artificially induced inflation (that wages cannot naturally keep up with and a policy that many of our competitors do not adhere too) I have a problem with limp wristed workers not adapting to a world where other workers work in factories that ‘by their standards’ are modern and acceptable while we drive our Mercedes with no ability to pay for the maintenance….
Actually the largest tool manufacturer left in the US is Snap On and it is not 100% everything made in the US. Where can you get them..... at your neighborhood Lowe's Home Improvement Store. Snap on makes Kobalt Tools and they are Made in America.
DeleteKobalt:
DeleteThe air compressors are made in the USA with the motors coming from Mexico.
Two screwdriver sets are made entirely in the us
The 3rd set labeled "professional" is made in china.
all their power tools are made in china (except the air compressor)
all the mechanic associated tools like jack stands, ATV lifts, bottle jacks and the 3 ton jack combo.
the "locking pliers and all other kinds of pliers are made in china.
Snap on Made where:
Deletehttp://www.made-in-china.com/productdirectory.do?subaction=hunt&style=b&mode=and&code=0&comProvince=nolimit&order=0&isOpenCorrection=1&word=Snap+On+Tools
I missed the finish of this thought:
ReplyDeleteI have a problem with limp wristed workers not adapting to a world where other workers work in factories that ‘by their standards’ are modern and acceptable while we drive our Mercedes with no ability to pay for the maintenance…. And paying foreign workers to pick our food.
Which begs the question. If the supply of foreign workers were cut off and food prices rose, would we have more or less poverty? Furthermore, would our population be less obese?
DeleteWell, … three scenarios really… Either foreign workers left and our own unemployed/underemployed people picked up the basket for like wages….. or … the foreign workers left and the food died on the vine… or people would replace those foreign workers at a wage/benefit point much higher than imported labor.
DeleteThe first would cause food prices to fall because there would be more food available for a smaller population of consumers… the many addled workers , after a transition period, would regain new energy and vitality and by virtue of the work, would no doubt lose weight… win/win for the workers, the health care system and the rise in availability of American produce.
The second of course would involve government intervention… the government would need to declare a national emergency and, with taxpayer dollars subsidize food procurement from foreign sources to continue to stock American stores, prices would not rise in proportion to the scarcity because of the subsidy however because it is an ‘national emergency’ the government would immediately create a relief program to insure that those who chose not to work wouldn’t lose any of that ‘bought and paid for’ weight.
Third of course is the most preferred, people would agree to go to work but at higher wages… they would form unions, go out on strikes and petition the government to force a new minimum wage. They would, because of their lack of conditioning and excess weight, not be able to produce as much and union rules would prevent overexertion so, along with wages, scarcity would cause the prices to rise prompting the government responses as in the last paragraph plus the need to nationalize Del Monte…..
Did I miss anything?
Oh yes… I did…”would their be more poverty”… of course not… we have the ‘Great Society’ and the power of the printing press … annndddd … the ability to changes measurement equations to insure that never happens… or at least not until after the election.
Business would need to compete for workers forcing wages higher via supply and demand. Can't have that. Millions of undocumented, illegal, foreign workers wanting to just support their families helps keep wages low while fueling the money transfer companies while adding billions in costs to our roaring economy.
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