Surprising Statistics for US Manufacturing
 

'All too often the perception is that the heyday of U.S. manufacturing is in the past, but nothing could be further from the truth. Standing by itself, U.S. manufacturing would be the eighth largest economy in the world. There are six manufacturing pillars that support today’s U.S. economy, manufacturing:

- makes the highest contribution to economic growth of any sector (Agri, Const., Info., Trans/Ware., Prof. Serv., Retail, Finance, Wholesale Trade, Health Care/Ed. Serv./Soc. Asst.;

- is responsible for more than 70 percent of private sector research and development and the center for a wide range of advanced technologies that cut energy use and lead to a cleaner environment;

- achieves a high productivity rate year in and year out, increasing by more than 50 percent in the past decade;
contributes more than 60 percent of U.S. exports or about $50 billion a month;

- pays wages and benefits that are about 25 percent higher than in non-manufacturing jobs;

- multiplies every dollar spent into an additional $1.37 in economic activity, greater than other sectors.

Even with these strengths, there are many challenges for manufacturers, especially in the area of costs and encouraging young people to pursue a career in manufacturing. Eighty one percent of respondents to the Institute/NAM 2005 Skills Gap survey said they could not find qualified workers to fill open positions. Structural costs such as taxes and health care add 31.7 percent to U.S. manufacturing costs, making it more difficult to produce from a U.S. base.

Even though it is more difficult to manufacture in the US, by itself US manufacturing would be the eighth largest economy in the world.


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Lube,

The graph reflects total GDP. Goods and services, not Manufacturing exclusively. This reflects Big Macs sales to Jiffy Lube services. I would like to see raw manufacturing data. George W. added fast food and agriculture to this catagory, I believe. Is it a fare representation and comparison? Good question!

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I'm not buying it Mike. If you have to resort to statistics you probably don't have much of a case:D

U.S. manufacturing is dying or dead. Don't need fancy pants charts to know that.

Well I guess it depends on the sector. I'm in manufacturing (consumer healthcare) and we have three factories going 24/7.

There are pockets of success and that is certainly one.

Absolutely. But no sector is safe. China just produced and launched (a combo first) satellite for Nigeria. Why did Nigeria choose China over the EU and US? The Nigerian president said one word, price.

It's one thing for China to make the world's Walmat tschotchke's, quite another to be a player in high-end communications satellites.

From t-shirts to plastic anything to ultra-hightech, China will dominate in the next 5-10 years.

the combination of a massive population, a real strategic, global plan being executed right now (buying up resources worldwide) and a complete lack of business ethics (from reverse engineering to outright stealing to child labor), China will win in the end.

not saying it's right, just realistic.

Lube,

One of your pareto bar charts has "Government" as an contributer to "Real" GDP at 5% How can this be possible? Pelicanites?

Well I think Mike is correct on the 18% of the GDP is manufacturing. But it certainly isnt what it used to be at about 60-70% 1948-75? The massive electronic industry left for Japan about 1975....And everthing is trinkled to Asia since. Boeings commercial aircraft manufacturing is cranking out a sizeable percentage of the 18% which is larger than alot of 1st world GDP's

Lube,

My buddy told me that Germany exports more in GDP (total dollars) than China! I have not researched that claim, but I hear its true?

That might be interesting to review. Is there any data available where you got your stats on the US? World Almanac 2006?

Bob

It should also be noted that a lot of manufacturers are hanging on right now rather than turning real profits. That means the output is still there but their not making any money doing it. A lot of businesses are treading financial water and/or selling off assets to stay afloat hoping things change or looking for greener pastures/markets.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/forbes_nabe_usmanufacturing_3-26-042.pdf

This article has some interesting data up to 2004.

If we had a time machine we could go back to 1985 and the same things (mostly) were being said about Japan. And what happened there? The command economy ran out of steam as the population peaked. China will be facing the same sort of problems in a few years. We shall see...

Completely different.

Except the population/resources difference between Japan and China is huge!
It will be a while before China/India/etc runs out of cheap labor.

+1 on being realistic

My educated guess is a "few years" is going to be a few lifetimes.
Forget learning spanish in school, have your children learn chinese.

Gaijin,

When the China environmental movement begins and the proletariat demands better wages, China's manufacturing will suffer from the expectations of a first world country. The world will force them to comply. I am really concerned more about the impact the next twenty years will make on our manufacturing technology. Will the U.S. be capable of putting a man on Mars technologically? :confused:
Bob

But the same.

How soon we forget. MITI had a 100 year plan. They were buying up Hawaii.. Mitsubishi was getting into aerospace. Hitachi was taking over the computer industry. Rockefeller Center was bought at top dollar. The Tokyo real estate market was a never ending source of credit for more and more investment. They were buying most of US Treasury bills and making us a debtor nation.. A manufacturing powerhouse, a high tech wonderland. The best school system, the longest working hours... We were done, kaput, washed up!:eek:

My son asked me the other day - he's 7 - "Dad, is everything made in China?"

Amen

This is typical western thinking. Applying the way we think towards another culture and expecting them to react as we would. It's the same reason people think that peace talks will work, etc. China hasn't changed very quickly over the past 3000 years. I personally am not going to wait for them to have some kind movement... that may happen, just doubt it will in our lifetime.

Ironic, I decided to look at ALL the toys in my sons room and determine where they were made. This was after the Thomas the train crap went down. (FYI - I would never pay that much for toy trains for my 3 y/o to destroy so I do not have any, I have plastic ones that he likes just the same)

All of his toys were made in China, every single one of them. I started looking at the tag on his shirt that he was wearing to see where it was made, I muttered something along the lines of lets see where this is made. My son responded I was made in Florida!! I got a good laugh out of that.

The shirt was made in Indonesia.