Factory losses severe for U.S. workers - 3.2 million (1 in 6 factory) jobs gone since 2000

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/04/21/business/news/9_03_514_20_07.txt

Factory losses severe for U.S. workers - 3.2 million jobs gone since 2000

By: MARTIN CRUTSINGER - Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Three weeks ago, Dawn Zimmer became a statistic.

Laid off from her job assembling trucks at Freightliner's plant in Portland, Ore., she and 800 of her colleagues joined a long line of U.S. manufacturing workers who have lost jobs in recent years. A total of 3.2 million -- one in six factory jobs -- have disappeared since the start of 2000.

Many people believe those jobs will never come back.

"They are building a multimillion-dollar plant in Mexico and they are going to build the Freightliners down there. They came in and videotaped us at work so they could train the Mexican workers," said Zimmer, 55, who had worked at Freightliner since 1994.

That's the issue for American workers. Many of their jobs are moving overseas, to Mexico and China and elsewhere.

Just ask Tom Riegel.

He worked for 27 years making Pennsylvania House furniture at a factory in Lewisburg, Pa., until the plant shut down in December 2004. The production was moved to a plant in China, which kept making the furniture under the Pennsylvania House label for shipment back to the United States.


FULL story at link.

[Vincardog]

1. It is not just Factory jobs being lost. No one is counting the IT and other white collar jobs.

I bet that is because there have been a lot more than 3.2 million of them as well.

Great plan aWoL.

[Vincardog]

2. It is not just Factory jobs being lost. No one is counting the IT and other white collar jobs.

I bet that is because there have been a lot more than 3.2 million of them as well.

Great plan aWoL.

[Vincardog]

3. It is not just Factory jobs being lost. No one is counting the IT and other white collar jobs.

I bet that is because there have been a lot more than 3.2 million of them as well.

Great plan aWoL.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. You can retrain for the service industry & retail.

At about 1/2 the income. They don't care about you.

[Vincardog]

5. What good is retraining for a 50 something YO man? Why do I want to

learn how to manufacture Burgers?