This article makes that case that we've been confused by a statistical artifact.
* That the only bright spot in manufacturing are chipmakers, and
* Much of that narrow improvement is a statistical accounting for the fact that we're making better chips. (A quality adjustment.)
https://qz.com/1269172/the-epic-mistake-about-manufacturing-thats-cost-americans-millions-of-jobs/
Article makes contradictory claims: that automation doesn't cost jobs. And then claims that the US isn't anywhere near as automated as other countries like Korea. (Which is a true claim.) You really cannot have this both ways.
ReplyDeleteIf manufacturing ever recovers in the USA, it's going to be due to us following the lead of Korea and Japan. That is to say, we're going to be building a bunch of robots. Some human jobs will be created in the process, but you're never going to get back to the levels of manufacturing employment we saw in the past. (Which peaked in the 1950s at around 30% of the labor force.)
This isn't just true in the USA, it is true everywhere.
You might find this article interesting, as it describes the decline of manufacturing as a share of GDP in Canada and other countries (including China.)
ReplyDeleterbc.com - www.rbc.com/economics/economic-reports/pdf/other-reports/Manufacturing%20Trends-Feb2017.pdf
I read it as automation isn't the overwhelming factor - here was also loss by outsourcing.
ReplyDeleteInteresting reference, I guess because I work in manufacturing (and we get endless assignments in reading ROI, corruption, ethics etc) I'm more familiar with how that works here. Services, to me, include inspection to ensure following regulations and ensure GMP being met.