Thursday, February 10, 2011

Making it here

It makes headlines when The Prez talks about shipping jobs overseas and the U.S. not making anything anymore. Especially when he leaves out the fact that government policies hamper domestic manufacturing efforts significantly.
So, a few more facts.
Measured in constant dollars, America's manufacturing output today is more than double what it was in the early 1970s, according to Rush Limbaugh. So much for decline.
More, from the National Association of Manufacturers.

  • The United States is the world’s largest manufacturing economy, producing 21 percent of global manufactured products. Japan is second at 13 percent and China is third at 12 percent.
  • U.S. manufacturing produces $1.6 trillion of value each year, or 11 percent of U.S. GDP.
  • Manufacturing supports an estimated 18.6 million jobs in the U.S.—about one in six private sector jobs. Nearly 12 million Americans (or 9 percent of the workforce) are employed directly in manufacturing.
  • In 2009, the average U.S. manufacturing worker earned $74,447 annually, including pay and benefits. The average non-manufacturing worker earned $63,507 annually.
  • U.S. manufacturers are the most productive workers in the world—twice as productive as workers in the next 10 leading manufacturing economies.
  • U.S. manufacturers perform half of all R&D in the nation, driving more innovation than any other sector.
  •  Taken alone, U.S. manufacturing would be the eighth largest economy in the world.
Darn, pesky facts. They sure louse up a good story.

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