The July/August issue of The American Enterprise has an insightful story by Dave Cloud on "Missing Factory Jobs ".
He leads with this: "Since 2000, over 4.5 million manufacturing jobs have been lost nationwide." Later in the story, he drops the fact that this country lost 15 million manufacturing jobs between 1995 and 2002. You've probably heard similar number batted around during the 2004 US presidential campaign as Democrats sought to downplay the economic recovery that has been underway for most of the Bush Adminstration. The jobs have been "off-shored" they say, shipped off to such low-wage countries as China which are, thus, responsible for unacceptably high unemployment in the U.S., particularly in manufacturing industries.
But, Cloud has a surprise. The country ISN'T the U.S. at all. It's China. China has lost 4.5 million manufacturing jobs since 2000. And in the years 1995-2002, China lost fully 15 million factory jobs (compared to 2 million in the U.S.).
"Off-shoring"? To where? Where are our manufacturing jobs going and, even more fascinating: where are Chinese manufacturing jobs going? Answer: away. They're not being re-located at all; they're disappearing entirely as productivity advances squeeze inefficiencies out of manufacturing processes.
Obviously, China is growing rapidly, including its manufacturing sector. U.S. manufacturers, too, are growing. As Cloud points out: "Total manufacturing output in the U.S. is actually at its highest level ever. What we are seeing is a continuation of a healthy productivity trend…."
What? Didn't that "good news" make your newspaper?
