Zero Manufacturing Jobs Added. Zero.

[marmar]

Zero Manufacturing Jobs Added. Zero.

Saturday, 04 May 2013 13:22
By Dave Johnson, Campaign for America's Future | Op-Ed



President Obama set a goal of 1 million new manufacturing jobs in his second term. Last month we added zero. Not one. Nada. Zip. We did add low-wage jobs, though. Maybe we can talk about a national manufacturing strategy now?

A Million Manufacturing Jobs?

In the 2012 campaign President Obama set a goal of creating 1 million new manufacturing jobs. (This goal comes after the country lost 5.5 million manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2009.) Manufacturing jobs bring money into the economy. Manufacturing jobs also bring along with them many jobs in other sectors that support manufacturing, from the supply chain to the maintenance to the marketing and sales of the goods. This is what the President understood when he set this goal.

But with the March jobs numbers out this morning the economy has created a total of only 39,000 manufacturing jobs this year — zero in March. That leaves the country with 961,000 manufacturing jobs to go in the time remaining.

Perhaps this dearth of new manufacturing jobs has something to do with the economic stagnation we see around us?

Job Report Summary

While the jobs report was not too bad overall, it was terrible for manufacturing. Job growth for January and February was revised up by 114,000, so average job growth for the last three months was 212,000. But job gains were largely in low-wage sectors with zero gained in manufacturing. Employment services, restaurant employees and the retail sector accounted for more than half of April job growth. Health care added 19,000 jobs. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/16172-zero-manufacturing-jobs-added-zero

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[xchrom]

2. Anyone Who Says There's A Manufacturing Revolution In America Needs To Look At This Chart

http://www.businessinsider.com/manufacturing-job-creation-vs-total-job-creation-2013-5

You frequently hear about the "manufacturing revolution" in America, but more and more it looks like bunk.

Neil Irwin (via Ryan McArthy) in today's Washington Post has a great line regarding the jobs report:

Now, job creation is entirely confined to the services sector: Manufacturing had no net change in employment, construction lost 6,000 jobs, and even mining and logging was a net negative.

In this chart, the blue bars are the total monthly change in job creation and the red bars are the change in manufacturing jobs. As you can see, manufacturing saw weakening in both of the last months, and in some recent months there was even negative job creation in the sector.




Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/manufacturing-job-creation-vs-total-job-creation-2013-5#ixzz2SQDguiiI

[FreakinDJ]

37. That chart needs to go back to 2004

When Bush destroyed our Manufacturing Sector with his Bush Tax Cuts

[bvar22]

48. Uh, Bush didn't destroy our manufacturing sector.

You have to go back to 1992 to find out what destroyed our manufacturing sector.

You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their rhetoric, promises, or excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

[HiPointDem]

53. manufacturing jobs were being lost as far back as the 60s. the 80s was another high point.

[FreakinDJ]

62. your comparing opening the door to opening the Flood Gates

Bush's Tax Cuts shipped whole factories to China

[Honeycombe8]

3. A depressing reality, for sure. nt

[n2doc]

4. The only thing the repubs will allow are tax cuts for businesses

And those don't work as job creators. Unless those jobs are gardeners, maids, art dealers, or high end foreign car dealerships. No manufacturing. Generally they act as job exporting subsidies instead.

[SoCalDem]

5. I overheard part of a conversation last Friday

the part I heard was a lady saying to her friend..(paraphrasing)

"...The day after each of my brothers graduated high school, our Dad took them to work with him at the plant (didn't catch where or what it was) , and they had a good union job...two of them worked there during college and the other stayed on. Dad retired with a good pension after 30 years there..and then they shut it all down...".

This is how "work" used to be for many "middle classers".. It was a conveyor.

The belt is broken..

[Yo_Mama]

12. Yes, the conveyor belt is broken

That's why social mobility is collapsing.

In some cases, the conveyor belt is rolling backward now.

I know college costs have gone through the roof, but part of the reason why students are ending up with so much college debt is that other employment opportunities are lacking, or very poorly paid. Working your way through college used to be an option, and for most students, it's now a total impossibility.

Furthermore, even if we sent everyone to college on the government dime, there wouldn't be jobs for them when they graduated. About 50% of college grads are working in jobs for which a college degree isn't even a prerequisite, and the prerequisite in many jobs for a college degree is really overblown - it's just a cheap way for HR to throw out apps without having to screen the applicants.

We have an ever more serious problem in the US, and we will have to generate good jobs to redress the situation. We have no plan to do that now.

[Earth_First]

13. I work in landscape/horticultre as a degree holder...

I have a B.S. in Natural Resources Conservation; working in a job utilizing very little of my degree.

The past ten years (or more) have seen drastic cuts in environmental conservation efforts which led to a gutting of positions in which I could utilize my degree effectively.

Even when positions were to open up, and sometimes they still do, I keep an eye on them, I have been at my current employer for so long that I would be taking a drastic cut in pay.

Years ago I joined the Army which paid for a large portion of my education, a route that nowdays I higbly discourage younger kids to do. So fortunately I am not saddled with loan debts.

I worry for our 15 year old daughter. While we gladly encourage her to peruse her dreams through future education, her options are even more reduced now than when I entered the job market wide-eyed and optimistic...

[RandiFan1290]

6. Those Obama/Pelosi/Reid tax cuts for the rich aren't working?

[JayhawkSD]

7. It's even worse than that

We added 165,000 last month and are celebrating as it we won the unemployment war, with the stock market shooting to record highs.

But part time jobs increased by 441,000 that same month. That means we lost 276,000 full time jobs.

The work week shrank by .2 hours. For 155,238,000 workers, that's the equivalent of cutting 776,000 full time jobs.

That, people, is not a recovering economy.

[SoCalDem]

9. The definition of "job" is at issue too

Sweeping up at a hair salon is a "job"
Cleaning motel rooms is a "job"

Low wage, part-time service jobs (formerly knows as teen-summer/after school jobs...or "pin money" jobs for bored housewives) are NOT the solution to unemployment.

Jobs that can support a family are the ones that should be counted.

I would like to see jobs of under 40 hours and without benefits EXCLUDED from the reporting data.

[Cal Carpenter]

15. Thanks for breaking this down

Jobs that can't cover basic living expenses, that have little or no job security and benefits, these aren't going to fix our economic problems or improve the massive increases in inequality we have seen recently. In fact, these types of jobs will serve to embed this inequality even deeper.

[Yo_Mama]

23. Most of what's going on is redistribution of the same work and pay

among more workers. In many cases it's redistribution of the same work at less total pay.

The reality hidden underneath the statistics is even worse than it appears.

The people at the top of the policy structure don't understand what is happening at all. They don't even realize that it is happening.

And then to see a budget like the president's be issued - which seems to feel the problem is too much money being spent on SS and Medicare, both of which were slated for very real and significant cuts - almost seems maddening.

Also, increasing immigration in these circumstances is the stupidest thing anyone could ever do.

[LooseWilly]

101. "increasing immigration"? Are you referring to "immigration reform legislation"?

Because... "immigration reform legislation" isn't "increasing immigration", it is, largely, a set of measures to bring those who have already immigrated out into the open, so that employers can't use immigration status against them in order to use them against the rest of the work force in order to drive down wages.

If anything, the situation that you rightly describe requires immigration reform as a step in the solution so that workers are not so easily played against each other by those who'd like to reduce the total pay amongst the lot of us even lower...

[progree]

78. Source of data? (BTW in March we supposedly lost 513,000 part time jobs)

Last edited Mon May 6, 2013, 12:59 PM - Edit history (1)

[font color = blue]JayhawkSD>We added 165,000 last month and are celebrating as it we won the unemployment war, with the stock market shooting to record highs.

But part time jobs increased by 441,000 that same month. That means we lost 276,000 full time jobs. <[/font]

Where do you get these numbers? The 165,000 came from the establishment survey of businesses (top row of http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t17.htm or http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.b.htm ) while the 441,000 part time jobs came from the household survey (the sum of "Part time for economic reasons" and "Part time for non-economic reasons" http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.a.htm

The two surveys often don't agree with each other month to month -- often there are big differences between the two. Also, especially with the household survey, the components are extremely highly volatile from month to month. Just to give you an idea, the seasonally adjusted data for "Part time for economic reasons" http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12032194

is this:
Part time for economic reasons, Seasonally Adjusted: monthly changes:
[font face = courier new]
..... Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jn Jl Aug Sept Oct. Nov. Dec.
2012: 52 -93 -463 232 220 94 35 -202 564 -321 -148 -220
2013: 55 15 -350 278[/font]



I don't know how to get the data series for total part time, or I'd show that. I highlighted the "Part time for economic reasons" because these are the ones who want full time work and are available for it, i.e. the "involuntary part-time", according to the BLS.

Obviously, the wild oscillations month to month are mostly data noise, as nobody with at least a room temperature IQ really believes that number of part time workers wanting full time work really jumps up and down like that.

One of the favorite tactics of the righties is to prey on people who don't know about the volatility of some of these component statistics and to pick the worst components of the month to highlight, and this month it is the part time jobs.

As stated above, the part time jobs from March to April increased by 441,000, according to the household survey.

Contrast that with the previous month -- going from February to March, for example, the part time jobs fell by 513,000 (350,000 for economic reasons and 163,000 for non-economic reasons http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.a.htm), but our good friends on the right had nothing to say about that.

Also, "Employed" fell by 206,000 from February to March, supposedly meaning that full time jobs went up by 307,000 -- +307,000 full time MINUS 513,000 part time EQUALS -206,000 total.

Actually, I don't think the sum of part time plus full time = total employment or total jobs either -- thanks to workers holding multiple jobs.

But hey, our good friends on the right won't let complications like that get in the way of a good story -- anything to trash the economy and get a Republican Senate in 2014.

ON EDIT - I forgot to note that over the past year (April'13/April'12) part-time jobs increased only 60,000, while "Employed" increased 1,645,000 (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.a.htm ). So this also doesn't support the meme that most / all the job gains are part-time, let alone that part-time jobs are replacing full time jobs.

[font color = blue]JayhawkSD>The work week shrank by .2 hours. For 155,238,000 workers, that's the equivalent of cutting 776,000 full time jobs.<[/font]

I could comment on the hours too -- same story -- high volatility from month to month (e.g. it went up 0.1 hours from Feb. to March). But looking at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.b.htm , over the past year, from April 2012 to April 2013, it went from 34.5 hours to 34.4 hours, so that is a reason to be disturbed.

[votesparks]

8. Repealing NAFTA and GATT

would be a good start to re-invent manufacturing in America. As long as using cheap labor abroad is incentivized, it's not coming back. I live in Dayton, Ohio, and this city looks like Chernobyl. So many empty buildings its hard to contemplate.

[rhett o rick]

71. Maybe Sen Clinton can run on that. nm

[pampango]

86. Don't have to repeal GATT. It's been dead for 20 years. If it were not for oil imports from Mexico

and Canada we would have a trade surplus with them. Something tells me we would be importing their oil with or without NAFTA.

[Skidmore]

10. I thought we were all going to get those 3D printers so we can each

have a factory in our homes.

[jsr]

16. With cheap printer ink for all

[leftstreet]

18. I'm gonna print money with mine

Instant Bootstrap access to the elite class

[KansDem]

31. Hey, I like the way you think!

If the One Percenters can print money whenever they want (or need it), why can't the rest of us?

Sounds fair...

[progressoid]

11. but but but "The lowest jobless rate since 2008!"

And we're in a recovery right?

[dotymed]

14. Yes, these "jobs" are total B.S.

Since retiring, I have watched my Union fight and lose it's war against slavery. They had 3 (once flourishing) states merge under them. Recently, all four Indianapolis Carpenters Unions were disbanded and united under a new, single, local. This happened after we took on the other carpenters Unions in 3 states.. We are losing (have lost) our war for earning a living wage, for some dignity and respect at work. Probably our pensions too, the wealthy come first.
I don't know what else to say...

[Orrex]

17. This calls for a bit more boot-strapping, pronto!

[Arctic Dave]

19. Obviously this article is lying.

Obama signed another "free trade agreement" and he said it would mke the manufacturing sector boom.

He would never lie to us little people.

[jsr]

24. The president will fight very hard for the little people

at some point in the distant future in a nearby galaxy.

[Newest Reality]

76. With an automated battallion

of unpaid androids fighting for our...ah...

[BuelahWitch]

69. It will make the manufacturing sector boom

Just not in the US!

[sorefeet]

20. It ain't like we can't use more

help. Companies expect an American to do the work of two or three people. Fucking everywhere I go I have to wait in a line longer and longer as time goes on. You wait for ever on the telephone put on hold. The fucking auto parts store the grocery store MCDONALDS FAST FOOD. No we don't have manufacturing jobs and we are shorthanded in the slave labor too, because the fat cats have to have insane PROFITS.

[Locrian]

82. happening at high level too...

Major fortune 500 company I work at -we have tons of work, *expected* 15-20% overtime and not a word on hiring anyone.

[NYtoBush-Drop Dead]

21. Manufacturing is never coming back.

Not when you can get the crap made in China, India, or Mexico. Forget it. Time to teach our children how to read and do math.

[reACTIONary]

34. +100 !!! (NT)

[Blanks]

38. It's time to teach our children how to grow food...

At least then they will be able to eat.

[raouldukelives]

97. I agree. Now its just the small matter of leaving them a stable climate to grow in. nt

[Blanks]

107. True. We could do a little better in that respect. eom

[bvar22]

49. Read and "do math" ?

That won't do any good when they are forced to compete with 3rd World Slave labor for those jobs.

[NYtoBush-Drop Dead]

54. after reading and math

they might want to learn science... so the high paying jobs are not going to the highly educated from other countries.

[bvar22]

57. What percentage of the Working Class Population of the USA...

...do you estimate can be employed in those jobs?

...what percentage of our Working Class Population are born with the necessary capabilities
to:
a)Obtain the necessary education

b)Successfully battle their way into one of those few, VERY competative slots?

Are you aware that there is a Race to the Bottom in those occupations being fueled by the current H1B Visa scam to drive those wages and benefits down to 3rd World levels?

Your argument is based on the Randian Myth that anyone can John Galt their way to the top. All they have to do is just learn some math & science.

[LooseWilly]

102. You do realize they teach math and Science! in India and China (as well as everywhere else), right?

India has a booming tech and pharmaceuticals industry... why do you think that is?

China designs & builds prototypes for companies like Apple based on the specs that they are given... the prototypes are inspected by American (hired) engineers, and then go into production (in China). (Maybe you should add "inspections" to your list of courses.)

As for the "high paying jobs" that you're trying to prevent going to other countries... I think you're missing the point... it's not that they're going to other countries... it's that the employers no longer want them to be "high paying"... that's why they're going to other countries... because they're not as high paying that way... and that's really the whole ever-loving point... the only point, in fact.

[Skittles]

60. people are sick of disposable, inferior CRAP

especially when people are DYING too make that garbage for our 1%

[Union Scribe]

72. No reading or math in manufacturing?

That came off as pretty classist. Do you think all blue collar workers are illiterate?

[Populist_Prole]

98. +1: I didn't like that tone either

Trite by the standards of of even a decade ago. It reads like a summation of the canards the third-wayers and repub trot out; and have trotted out for ages to get us to accept their "There is no there way" mantra.

[pampango]

89. Manufacturing is not the problem. It's manufacturing jobs.

http://emsnews.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/nuclear-wars-and-earthquakes-increase-economic-problems/

[BOG PERSON]

90. The Rise of the Machines

Social commentators are often at pains to comprehend violent opposition to machines. This isn’t just a bad understanding of history; even nineteenth-century thinkers, who could see the changes firsthand, were perplexed by the resistance. From the perspective of bourgeois writers, who saw in history a providential march of progress, opposition to new technology seemed irrational. Andrew Ure, the scientist whose Philosophy of Manufactures provided Marx with much of his information on new machines, chastised the silk weavers who opposed new loom technology. Even though he acknowledged that the Jacquard punch card eliminated entire professions and sent pay rates through the floor, Ure treated the weavers’ defiance — threatening the inventor and smashing his machine in the public square — as a myopic response to a wondrous and inevitable technological advancement. David Ricardo, while sympathetic to immiserated workers, was ambivalent about whether mechanization could be stopped. The expert consensus seemed to be that machines, love them or hate them, were the future.

We risk reproducing these blind spots in our own day, when we should be much more skeptical of claims to technological progress. After all, automation isn’t an inevitable result of capitalism. If the workforce is pliant enough and surplus value extraction high enough, a very low level of machinery will be deployed. This is the case with so-called artisanal mining in Africa, where individuals (often children) with meager tools hop into pits to scrape out minerals by hand. Automation has proven unprofitable enough that grocery stores are replacing self-checkouts with old-fashioned human beings again.

While intellectuals debate the merits and demerits of automation, workers have been quicker to make up their minds. Marx documents how in the seventeenth century, machines like looms and mills were often banned because their introduction caused such social upheaval that it spooked those in power (in one case, the inventor of a mechanized loom was assassinated by nervous authorities). By the nineteenth century, once capital had gained the upper hand, workers repeatedly assaulted the machines that had become instruments of violence against them. When destruction wasn’t on the table, workers quit in droves. The introduction of the assembly line in 1913 caused mass desertion in plants owned by Henry Ford, who had to scramble to deal with an astonishing 380 percent employee turnover rate. Waves of worker revolts in the 1960s and 1970s struck at the instruments of production. In 1975, a gang of pressmen at the Washington Post held their foreman hostage while they meticulously destroyed and burned the computerized press that had just made them obsolete.

History’s most notorious machine-breakers were the Luddites. Though their name is now synonymous with any misguided opposition to new technology, their legacy deserves better. The Luddites revolted against the degradation and acceleration of work: they understood immediately that their survival was at stake. They wrote their own manifestos, arguing that supposedly neutral technological change was in fact political, shaped by the imperatives of management control. When these arguments fell upon impassive ears, they picked up hammers and went Ludding.

jacobinmag.com/2013/04/the-rise-of-the-machines/

[HiPointDem]

99. +1

[Kolesar]

105. The US has the biggest manufacturing economy on the last time I checked

Except for that, manufacturing is never coming back

[MjolnirTime]

22. Obama was reelected. You and the rest of the haters lost. Get over it.

Is this really all you have left to cling to? Oh, how the bitter have fallen!

Don't forget to scream about Obama killing Social Security, too.

[marmar]

32. First off, the article identifies problems and proposes some solutions.......

...... including some that President Obama himself has proposed. But all you can get from it is, "the haters". Mon dieu. Do you have ANYTHING to contribute to the dialogue other than strident bloviation and ad-hominems?

[HangOnKids]

46. I'm Sure You Voted For Obama

But now you are a "hater" and "bitter", I think you know the answer to your question about any constructive comments. The "hater" nonsense sounds like middle school kids going at it on the school yard, very trite, and sophomoric.

[Skittles]

81. that's actually a good description of them

they're like children with their fingers in their ears going LALALALALALALA

[Occulus]

85. It pays the bills, though

For quite a few people, apparently.

[Marr]

25. I remember when we used to go nuts about the Bush Administration's deceitful presentation of

numbers like 'number of jobs added'. Suddenly it's a-ok with a lot of people. Just another talking point to post and repost.

[OnyxCollie]

27. Posting and reposting talking points is one of the jobs the Obama administration created.

[Marr]

30. lol-- well, there's ONE business that's booming.

[Fuddnik]

70. Around the clock, no less.

[Occulus]

87. PROpaganda makes SENSE.

Ugggh.

[ProSense]

88. Here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2802720

"PROpaganda makes SENSE."

[AnotherMcIntosh]

26. Chessmaster.

[byeya]

28. The small independent city of Galax in SW VA has lost 2700 mfg jobs. A lot of furniture

was made there - 6 plants - because of the availablity of local lumber for flooring and furniture and a trained and skillful workforce. There were two mirror factories in Galax and several textile mills. Workers from the city and 3 counties depended on this work.

Brazil has(had?) a law which forbade the exportation of raw logs. In other words, the local wood had to be made into something. The USA would benefit from such a law.

[Blanks]

39. The same should be done to a lot of our resources. eom

[GoneFishin]

29. Assembling burgers isn't considered a manufacturing job?

We need import tariffs or some disincentive for companies to chase 10 cents per hour labor.

[SamKnause]

33. Jobs

President Obama did not march with the unions in Wisconsin or Michigan.

I guess he couldn't find his walking shoes.

I noticed President Maduro marched with the unions and labor on May Day.

Obama signed Free Trade Deals with Colombia, South Korea, and Panama.

Wait until he signs the Trans Pacific Trade Deal.

It has been compared to NAFTA on steroids.

[Aviation Pro]

35. Depends on your definition of manufacturing job...

...the biotech industry has added 1.6 million jobs with a job multiplier of 5 million. Of course, it takes more than the ability to throw steel to do these jobs, which is why the 1950s paradigm of Dad slugging it out in the smelters with good union backing after high school is as much of a liberal fallacy as the conservative vision of returning to the good old days of slavery.

Here's one reference to biotech manufacturing: http://www.biotech-now.org/public-policy/2013/04/governors-share-best-practices-on-bringing-biotech-jobs-to-their-states

[reACTIONary]

36. +100 !!! (NT)

[Blanks]

40. You are onto something.

There has been a lot of mechanization also. The biggest problem IMHO is that people are waiting for jobs to fall from the sky.

We need small entrepreneurial ventures that create businesses in agriculture. There is no reason why we can't produce more food for local consumption and get rid of these subsidies for big agriculture. We all still need to eat every day, there's no reason we can't capture some of that money locally.

These jobs that fall from the sky are the jobs that suck.

[HiPointDem]

43. the people calling for the removal of agricultural subsidies are the same people who called for

the removal of grain stores -- the financial sector, in the interest of increasing volatility and bigger profits for those who arbitrage it.

and as two guys made more money last year than the bottom 20% of the population combined, and the top 10% take nearly 1/2 of all income in the US, I wonder how what kind of capital you think the other 90% are going to use to create their own fucking jobs.

[Blanks]

44. There's a difference between calling for the removal of subsidies...

And wanting to eliminate subsidies for big agriculture.

It's a matter of giving money to companies that don't need it so that we can get a cheaper Big Mac, or supporting local agricultural production so that we are not dependant on a huge transportation infrastructure in order for people to eat.

40 years ago there were a lot of small businesses involved in agriculture. I think we took a wrong turn somewhere. I'd like to look at returning to that model.

[HiPointDem]

45. there may be a difference in your mind, but not in the minds of those pushing such policies.

things that increase price volatility increase their bottom lines.

[Blanks]

50. I see your point.

We shouldn't change anything. Just let things get better on their own.

That seems to be working.

[HiPointDem]

52. does not follow.

[Blanks]

58. Really.

You oppose evaluating the agriculture price support program, but you don't see how that seems like you are recommending maintaining the current system.

Seems to follow to me. You are opposed to change. Being opposed to change is equal to wanting the system to remain the same. What is it that you are having trouble following?

It seems pretty straight forward to me.

[HiPointDem]

41. not in this period, it didn't.

[bhikkhu]

42. Did they cheer all the previous months when manufacturing numbers were positive?

I doubt it. For the most part, the gains in manufacturing during Obama's first term were invisible, as they didn't fit in with the negative drumbeat on both the left and the right that seems to drive media narratives.

In any case, in spite of the "lost month" of manufacturing jobs non-creation, Obama has a pretty solid record there overall.

[Recursion]

47. Nothing's magical about manufacturing

Why do we love that particular sector, especially given that its wages are declining so fast?

[bvar22]

51. Manufacturing jobs CREATE wealth.

Service Sector and administrative jobs do NOT create wealth (Value Added).
Wall Street makes MONEY, but creates no wealth.

Creating WEALTH (Value Added) IS Magic,
and creating Value Added Wealth is what produced the biggest, wealthiest, and most Upwardly Mobile Working Class the World had ever seen.

Sad, but we have thrown that all away.

[Recursion]

56. Any job (service or manufacturing) creates wealth

You're stuck in an Adam Smith view of the world.

[bvar22]

59. No. You are mistaken.

Mistaken, but not alone, which is unfortunate for the Working Class in our country.

Money does NOT equal Wealth.

Wealth IS created when a raw material is mixed with labor,
and there is a measurable improvement in the state of that raw material.

Service and Administrative Jobs are necessary to assist the Wealth Creators (LABOR),
but by themselves they create no WEALTH.

If a society marginalizes the Wealth Creators (LABOR) and attempts to exist solely on Service & Administrative jobs(Corporate Management, Wall Street, Investmant Banks, etc), then you WILL see exactly what we have in the USA today.

Corporate Profits Hit Record High While Worker Wages Hit Record Low
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/03/1270541/corporate-profits-wages-record/?mobile=nc

[Recursion]

61. Ah, so teachers don't create wealth?

Interesting.

[bvar22]

65. Teachers take a Raw Material,

and through their sweat, labor, talent, and passion create a valuable addition to our nation..
Teachers manufacture our most valuable product.
They SHOULD be compensated much MORE for the valuable service they provide.

Why don't you show us how much the For Profit Health Insurance Industry has contributed to the WEALTH of our nation?

The Health Insurance Industry:
*manufactures NOTHING

*Produces NO Value Added Wealth

*Keeps NO Inventory

*Provides NO useful service

What has this soon to be heavily subsidized from the public treasury
Industry contributed to the WEALTH of our nation?

This parasitic industry and their incestuousness 1st Cousin on Wall Street HAS produced many very RICH owners and managers, but they haven't created any wealth.
In fact, they have parasitically sucked wealth OUT of our nation.

Investment Banks CAN assist the Wealth Creators,
and are valuable in THAT service, but they don't directly create WEALTH.

The people who created the WEALTH of this country had dirt under their fingernails,
from the slaves of the 17th century to the sweat drenched mechanic in the garage that repairs your auto.
THEY are our most valuable resource, and deserve protection and compensation,
not the elite parasites of the 1%.

Money =/= Wealth

[Marr]

91. It's amazing to me that you're actually arguing this point.

Manufacturing creates wealth. Money and wealth are two different things.

[Recursion]

92. It amazes me that you don't realize how wrong you are

Look at Australia some time.

[Kolesar]

103. ^That was poorly written, too...eom

[kenny blankenship]

64. Because manufacturing is STILL the engine of mass EMployment for any large country

the basis of its favorable balance of trade, and for mass prosperity.

Small country, lots of natural resources like petroleum? You're golden -or you would be if it weren't for the likely presence of an oligarchical family based political system or military govt.

Maybe you're a tiny island or a wee principality like Monaco or Lichtenstein. You can become an "international banking center" -- in plain speech, a tax hideaway for disloyal rich fucks and organized crime racketeers from all over the world. Your per capita income will be sweet, since there are so few of you and so many billions and even trillions of foreign capital stashed in the bank vaults of your discreet little country. If you're sufficiently large like Switzerland and nicely situated geographically, you can even become like a "bedroom community" for the well to do of surrounding countries.

Large country? You better learn to make stuff other countries need and want to buy.
Agriculture, in the modern age, can no long act as the engine of mass employment for you.

World's only remaining military superpower? You can force other countries to use your currency, which artificially magnifies your people's purchasing power. You can do this for a while anyway. But the progressive atrophy of anything in your real economy of finished goods that isn't military related, together with the hypertrophy of the finance sector and its shell games, will doom the majority of your country to the ravages of increasing wealth polarization, disinvestment in civilian infrastructure, wage stagnation, endemic crime, and a long term loss of skills needed to compete in the global manufacturing arena. No enemy will do you in: your county's strength will crumble from within and your military and economic empire will collapse from the weight its own accumulated rot. Keep it up, complacent fuckheads, and see what happens to you.

[Union Scribe]

73. Excellent points. nt

[Recursion]

79. Is impossible for everyone to be a net exporter

Your strange view condemns half the countries in the world to poverty.

Check out the trade numbers for Australia. It's been a broadly prosperous service economy for half a century.

[ProSense]

55. This was not

In the 2012 campaign President Obama set a goal of creating 1 million new manufacturing jobs...But with the March jobs numbers out this morning the economy has created a total of only 39,000 manufacturing jobs this year — zero in March. That leaves the country with 961,000 manufacturing jobs to go in the time remaining.
<...>

While the jobs report was not too bad overall, it was terrible for manufacturing. Job growth for January and February was revised up by 114,000, so average job growth for the last three months was 212,000. But job gains were largely in low-wage sectors with zero gained in manufacturing. Employment services, restaurant employees and the retail sector accounted for more than half of April job growth. Health care added 19,000 jobs.

The sequester started to hit, with 8,000 jobs lost in the federal government (3,500 of those from the Postal Service.) State and local governments lost 3,000 jobs, which means 224,000 jobs lost over the last year. Construction lost 6,000 jobs, apparently from public projects.

...a good month for manufacturing. Still, it's possible to reach the President's four-year goal.

•Creating 1 million manufacturing jobs by 2016

http://www.barackobama.com/goals/

Manufacturing job creation was revived in the President's first term.

Manufacturing Is Surprising Bright Spot in U.S. Economy

By FLOYD NORRIS

For the first time in many years, manufacturing stands out as an area of strength in the American economy.

When the Labor Department reports December employment numbers on Friday, it is expected that manufacturing companies will have added jobs in two consecutive years. Until last year, there had not been a single year when manufacturing employment rose since 1997.

And this week the Institute for Supply Management, which has been surveying American manufacturers since 1948, reported that its employment index for December was 55.1, the highest reading since June. Any number above 50 indicates that more companies say they are hiring than say they are reducing employment.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/business/us-manufacturing-is-a-bright-spot-for-the-economy.html?_r=1&hp

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002125381

As for a strategy, the President outlined one earlier this year.

Fact Sheet: The President’s Plan to Make America a Magnet for Jobs by Investing in Manufacturing
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/13/fact-sheet-president-s-plan-make-america-magnet-jobs-investing-manufactu

[kenny blankenship]

63. That's OK - We'll all get rich in the stock market!

Free Bernanke Buxx for everybody* !
(*everybody who qualifies for net negative interest rates at the Fed window)

[WillyT]

66. K & R !!!

[MichiganVote]

67. Our economy/US Government-like watching slow heart failure.

[DallasNE]

68. The Latest Reporting Period Is April

So is "March" just a typo or is this data from a month ago? Because they talk about revisions to January and February I suspect this is data from a month ago, otherwise they would be taking about revisions to February and March.

[progree]

95. Good catch. Lots of "typos". Sigh. Ur reward: manufacturing employment data for ur viewing pleasure

[font color = blue]OP's excerpt of TruthOut.org article>> But with the March jobs numbers out this morning the economy has created a total of only 39,000 manufacturing jobs this year — zero in March.

While the jobs report was not too bad overall, it was terrible for manufacturing. Job growth for January and February was revised up by 114,000, so average job growth for the last three months was 212,000. << [/font]


[font color = red]DallasNE#68>The Latest Reporting Period Is April

So is "March" just a typo or is this data from a month ago? Because they talk about revisions to January and February I suspect this is data from a month ago, otherwise they would be taking about revisions to February and March.<< [/font]

The "March" is a typo (or fuckup), it should be "April". The "January and February" should be "February and March" (another, err, typo). With these changes, all the numbers in the excerpt above matches the jobs report that included April that came out Friday, May 3. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Good catch!

Here's some stuff on manufacturing --

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm Manufacturing employment was unchanged in April.

Manufacturing: 6th row: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.b.htm Feb, Mar, Apr: +23, +2, +0 (thousands)
19th row http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t17.htm
Up only 70,000 since April 2012, one year ago. (Apr'13/Apr'12)
Up only 149,000 since January 2012, 15 months ago. (Apr'13/Jan'12)
Jan.2012: 11,841, Apr.2012: 11,920, Apr.2013: 11,990.

Series Id: CES3000000001
Seasonally Adjusted
Super Sector: Manufacturing, Industry: Manufacturing,
Data Type: ALL EMPLOYEES, THOUSANDS

1 MONTH CHANGE


Notice that the 1-month change figures began improving in 2/09 - the month following Obama's inauguration. Though it took a year to turn positive. Also interesing -- the "plus" area in the Obama era is better than the "plus" area in the Bush era.

More: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES3000000001

To see the 1-month change at the above link, click on "More Formatting Options" at the upper right and then on the page that appears, be sure both the "Original Data Value" and "1-Month Net Change" boxes are checked. Don't forget to check the "include graphs" checkbox. You might also want to set the period from January 2000 to present to see the last year of the Clinton administration through April 2013. Then click "Retrieve Data".

Happiness is finally figuring out how to find the BLS Series Numbers (it's kind of tedious, but do-able)

[DallasNE]

100. Thanks For Correcting

I see errors relative to "to/too", "there/their/they're", etc. all of the time but those kind of errors never mean anything because simple grammatical errors don't alter the point being made. This was a different kettle of fish because of the confusion it caused as the "typo's" as a group all pointed in the direction of last months data and why would anybody do that on the very day a new set of numbers came out. For some reason it hit me like a brick on first reading too. I even went to the BLS site later and couldn't be sure because the March number on manufacturing was only 2,000 and that number could have been part of the upward adjustment for March, meaning the original March number could easily have been zero. At that point, I just threw my hands in the air.

[TampaAnimusVortex]

74. It gets worse... The Robots are here already.

What does this chart indicate?



Also, there are a new generation of robots being released that are cheap, smart, and getting installed in a factory near you.

[Newest Reality]

77. Yes,

with all the talk about outsourcing and insourcing and visas, the real sleeper in the mainstream is automation.

Actually steady improvements in automation should be expected and even in leaps and bounds, but while that is taking place, there is little talk or consideration of how we distribute wealth when robots and other forms of non-human manufacturing, (and eventually services, etc.) reach a certain threshold.

There are many ideas about technocracy and resource-based economies along with National dividends, negative income taxes, etc. There would be an equitable model to work from where everyone would share in the profit of production, in that case.

In the current climate, we are seeing the exact opposite when technology is bringing us to a critical point. Are we going to sit back and watch an inevitable form of economic genocide, (increasing homelessness, illness, mortality, etc.) solve the problems this creates? Either we adapt economically to the facts of automation as a significant facet of future life, or watch millions of people eventually be scrapped by attrition.

The whole idea of "work" and the concept of a "job" is in transition out of necessity and we are hearing the repetition of biased, outdated and dis-empowering rhetoric that is more about preserving a power-structure and an increasingly archaic Status Quo. In that sense, we can't really afford the direction the wealthy are going and our lives and our children's future is riding on a swift transition based on the reality of what is actually happening.

[blkmusclmachine]

80. .

.

[FreeJoe]

83. Manufacturing is growing

Our manufacturing output grows almost every year. What isn't growing is manufacturing employment. We're getting more and more effecient and making more with fewer people.

The same thing happened 100 years ago with farm employment. At one time, farming was overwhelming the largest sector for employment. Our farming operations got much more efficient. Our farming output increased while employment in the sector practically collapsed.

The future for labor is not a return to low skilled assembly line work. Those jobs are disappearing and will never come back. The future is in performing tasks that a computer or robot can't do.

[BOG PERSON]

84. "The future is in performing tasks that a computer or robot can't do."

we're all going to be au-pairs and dog walkers

[progree]

93. Think again on the dog walkers

[FreeJoe]

94. And writers...

and artists, and computer programmers, and musicians, and masseuses, and accountants, and auditors, and engineers, and ..... the list goes on and on.

I'm sure that there were people worried about the loss of farm jobs as that industry changed. The answer is not to cling to inefficient was of creating things just because they are labor intensive and we are laborers.

[progree]

96. Some corrections to article: March -> April. And "January and February" -> "February and March"

Thanks to DallasNE in #68 for pointing this out.

Please see #95 for more details ( http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022801053#post95 )

#95 also has a graph (from Jan 2000 to present) and link to Bureau of Labor Statistic's manufacturing employment series.

[Kolesar]

104. So the President didn't create a million jobs since January and he's a failure

Who the fuck is Dave Johnson, anyway?

[progree]

106. Jan thru April: 783,000 non-farm payroll jobs, but only 39,000 manufacturing jobs

783,000 non-farm payroll jobs were created in the 4 months January through April (196,000 / month average)
Jan - April monthly net job creation figures (thousands) : 148 332 138 165 . Total: 783. Average: 196
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0000000001


The OP was talking about manufacturing jobs -- a total of 39,000 created in the 4 months January through April ( 9,750 / month average)
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES3000000001
Jan - April monthly net manufacturing job creation figures (thousands) : 14 23 2 0 . Total: 39. Average: 10

Series Id: CES3000000001
Seasonally Adjusted
Super Sector: Manufacturing, Industry: Manufacturing,
Data Type: ALL EMPLOYEES, THOUSANDS

1 MONTH CHANGE


(The 1-month change figures began improving in 2/09 - the month following Obama's inauguration. Though it took a year to turn positive. Also interesing -- the "plus" area in the Obama era is better than the "plus" area in the Bush era.)

Back to non-farm payroll jobs -- 6.154 million net new jobs have been created in the last 38 months -- that's 162,000 jobs / month average.

G.W. Bush's entire 8 year record: 1.083 million net new jobs (11,281 jobs / month average)

More, including more comparisons of the Bush and Obama records: http://www.democraticunderground.com/111622439#post1