#5 Biggest Lie of the Year

The biggest lie of the year is that manufacturing jobs can, and should, return to the U.S.

I like and watch Ed Schultz on MSNBC. But he gets the Biggest Lie of the Year because he should know better. Factory jobs for those with a high school degree will not return.

And really, you don't want your daughter working in a factory. Consider:
-$13 an hour wages.
-Repetitive dull work compared to knowledge jobs.
-Greater risk of injury. 

Recently the REAL Rosie the Riveter died.  Geraldine Hoff Doyle posed for the photo during the 2 weeks she worked in a factory. When a girlfriend was injured, she was outta there. Do you want your daughter working in a factory? Let us know.

 

Comments

[D. P. Lubic]

I have to admit to mixed thoughts and feelings on this one.

First, everything you point out in the negative columns is true. That includes the long, mindless, repetitive routine of assembly line work, which I've done in an ice cream packing plant. Fellow coworkers and their jokes saved the day there.

At the same time, there would be certain advantages to having factory work here. The first that comes to mind is that we wouldn't have to depend on somebody cutting us off due to some trade war or whatever. Another is that in some cases, manufacturers going after cheap labor rates have found out that cheap labor was really, really unskilled, and there were serious quality problems, problems with the interpretation of directions, etc., all of which resulted in poor overall productivity; supposedly some manufacturing has returned to parts of Europe for just these reasons.

I'll also mention that not everybody is of college-grade material, or perhaps the better choice of words would be college-grade temperament. I have neighbors down the street, good people, but they would not fit in a classroom at all; he drives a truck, she works in a restaurant. The latter is a particularly hard job with low pay. At the same time, I will also say that both jobs are not really skill-less; you need a good attitude to safety to drive anything properly, and the need for that attitude increases exponentially in commercial driving. And who is to say people skills aren't important even in the low wage environment of food service? How many big-time, college-educated business owners and other types make jackasses out of themselves in dealing with people in such a situation? I've dealt with that, too, as an auditor; I wonder how their mothers brought up such arrogant jerks.

Finally, some of these jobs still can't be outsourced, and still need doing. Just think of how bad any town would smell if we didn't have those garbage men to pick up the trash!

Anyway, I appreciate these people, too, and wish their employers would as well. . .even as I agree on all your negative comments on the jobs themselves. . .

[Joanne Erickson]

Your prediction does not take into consideration two factors: (1) future international trade and levy legislation and agreements, and (2)the small but growing "Buy Local" movement. Although the "Buy American" movement hasn't boomed yet, that could change if/when laws and agreements level the playing field.

[William Draves]

Joanne, thanks much for the comment. I love all comments. In reply, well, yes our prediction DOES take into consideration those two factors. Actually NO economist is predicting a rise in manufacturing employment. And I can't imagine you really want your daughter to work in a factory.

[Leah A]

No Way. Discussions with my suburban middle class daughters center around college, human services, and what they are good at.
"Good paying jobs" and factory jobs - those words have never, EVER been uttered.