[Destro]

Manufacturing continues to lose jobs even as Jobless Rate Declined Again in November, to 5.9%

[RiflemanSharpe]

This is all true. And is just another reason we need to set up our trade policy, regulations, and tax system up to be optimum for keeping as many of these good paying jobs in the US as possible.

[Naspino]

I love it too. I used to install robotic machinery into plants and knock off five people at a time with a machine. I had no problem with it either after observing what they did for a living. One girl's job was to cup her gloved hand over a Rice Krispie line to line them up for the wrapper -- replaced by a 50 cent piece of plastic.

[truthandjustice1]

The guy up the road from me, the inventor of the PLC, has some credit (or blame), for the productivity improvements in mfg. He invented and installed the first PLC in GM some 25 years ago.

[Mad Dawgg]

Oh Christ, we are all gonna die!

[lelio]

Today, GM makes about the same number of vehicles, but employs just 118,000 workers because of increased mechanization and technology.

While that might be true, how many of the 300k difference are employed in GM spinoffs or a company that sells products to GM that they used to manufacture in house?

That's the problem when talking about a gross productivity number -- if you layoff 1/2 your workforce as now you buy the product from an outside manufacture your "productivity" number goes up. Now traditionally the companies that you outsource too are here in the US, but now the car companies are building their car parts in India and China.

I'm not saying this is good or bad, but just pointing out that numbers such as this should be looked at with a huge grain of salt.

[ClearCase_guy]

The Left has opposed automation since the beginning. The Luddites and "Captain Swing" in the early 1800's wanted to keep as many folks working as subsistence-level farmers as possible.The Marxists in the early and mid 20th Century wanted to keep people working in unsafe Mills, factories and coal mines -- machinery threatened their livlihoods, you know.

Now people worry that automation/productivity reduces jobs. Figure it out people: automation helped us move from subsistence-level farming to computer programming. It's a good thing.

[sixmil]

For example, nearly 25 years ago, General Motors employed 454,000 workers, more than any other company in America, to produce 5 million cars and trucks a year, according to the Harbour Report which tracks the auto industry.

Today, GM makes about the same number of vehicles, but employs just 118,000 workers because of increased mechanization and technology.

Sad that GM has not grown in 25 years. They might have actually grown if we had not given the auto industry away to Japan. I am all for increased productivity through technology, but free traders want increased productivity through exporting jobs.

[harpseal]

Ping

On or off let me know

[Willie Green]

But by far most manufacturing jobs were eliminated because companies used new technologies and management techniques to achieve productivity gains --

Bogus!

The only new "management techiques" they're using is outsourcing components while still taking full credit for the finished product.

Globalization is actually a regressive force in manufacturing technology. Justification for investment in labor saving automation is driven by HIGH wages and benefits. Outsourcing to low wage nations undercuts this capital expenditure with cheaper and more labor-intensive manufacturing technology.

[leprechaun9]

Another very important cause of the move of manufacturing companies off shore is the myriad of government regulations!

[Walkin Man]

While the lost manufacturing jobs will never be replaced, the increased productivity has kept prices competitive. The price of U.S. motor vehicles, adjusted for quality changes, is no higher today than it was in 1994, the Post said.

Too bad I and millions of other Americans were making a whole lot more money in 1994 than today.

[FITZ]

The price of U.S. motor vehicles, adjusted for quality changes, is no higher today than it was in 1994, the Post said.

The price is NO LOWER either ---- which means the savings isn't being passed down to the consumer.

[VOA]

Manufacturing jobs lost to productivity

Just the tide of history rolling on.
Scientific American had an article about automation in manufacturing maybe 10-15 years ago.
It included some historical graphs from one of the Italian gunmakers
(Beretta, I think). It showed that introduction of machinery really slashed the
number of bodies to turn out the same nubmer of guns.