Obama Continues Efforts to Jump Start Manufacturing

Matt Shelly
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The U.S. manufacturing sector has been suffering due to economic crisis and an increase of offshore factories. Now that the global economy is improving and there is an increased demand for manufactured goods, President Barack Obama's administration has introduced an action plan with an objective to jumpstart the manufacturing industry. This plan aims to increase production, lower production costs and create new jobs. If successful, the United States could see a number of reshored factories.

As of 2014, the U.S. manufacturing industry has started seeing some improvements in the demand of the products. A recent article by Nexxt states that a production boom of the manufacturing sector is on the horizon, but it all depends on other industries, as they create the demand of the manufacturing products. One of the main industries the manufacturing depends on is construction, and the jumpstart of manufacturing depends greatly on the demand of products such as iron girders, bricks, mortar, slate, sand and other building materials. As construction and other sectors soar, the manufacturing industry reaps the benefits. In addition, the U.S. manufacturing industry benefits as overseas financial markets recover from the slump. This shows the importance of considering the economy as an unified element. The efforts to jumpstart the manufacturing industry have to look at the position of other industries and what can be done to improve the overall economic situation of the United States.

Obama's efforts are demonstrating some hope for jumpstarting the manufacturing industry, such as improving production and increasing the number of jobs. The Obama administration's Economy Agenda, as outlined on Change.gov, introduced an Advanced Manufacturing Fund designed to help "identify and invest in the most compelling advanced manufacturing strategies." Another action point is increasing funding to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. This program's objective is to improve efficiency, implement new technology and strengthen the growth of companies. With these types of initiatives, the manufacturers are empowered to implement new technology that promises to make the production process easier and less costly. As a result, manufacturing companies have less need to open offshore factories, and the jobs are more likely to remain in the United States. If Obama's efforts to jumpstart manufacturing work out, the country could see an increasing number of reshored, rather than off-shored, factories because the costs of operating in the United States are reduced.

As the overall U.S. economy improves, demand for manufactured goods increases. The objectives of Obama's Economy Agenda are to ensure that manufacturers receive enough support and funding to increase their production and keep jobs in the United States. If manufacturers see that production can be achieved within reasonable costs, reshoring could be successfully realized and the jumpstart of the manufacturing industry in the United States complete.

Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles at freedigitalphotos.net

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