When one talks of American manufacturing these days, there is a yearning for days gone by along with the realization that it is in a state of continued decline. However, a new study by the McKinsey Global Institute clarifies the fact that manufacturing remains one of the most dynamic sectors in the United States but that doesn’t mean traditional manufacturing jobs are coming back.
Putting this report in perspective, one of the authors of the study, James Manyika said, “One of the authors of this study, manufacturing makes outsized contributions to GDP. It makes outsized contributions to overall productivity growth. It drives prosperity. But purely on employment, it has been declining over time.”
Statistics that support this conclusion reveal that manufacturing contributed 20 percent to the growth of global economic output for the decade ending in 2010 as well as 37 percent of global productivity growth from 1995 to 2005. However, employment was reduced by 24 percent in these advanced nations.
Simply put, the manufacturing sector is enjoying improvements in the form of robotics and other technologies while eliminating the need for factory workers, who in the past and without much education could find a job easily at middle class wages. What the report reveals is that the manufacturing worker of the future is more likely to have a graduate degree while wearing a suit or a white coat.
However, this doesn’t mean that manufacturing won’t create jobs in the future because there is not only a need for highly educated professionals but also for qualified technicians such as mechanics and electricians which community colleges aren’t able to meet.
And while there is no doubt that manufacturing will not create mass employment like in the past, the United States continues to lead the global technologies and innovators category in manufacturing.