U.S. Manufacturing Growing but Hiring is Sluggish

The U.S. manufacturing industry is finally making a comeback. However, hiring is still sluggish, which remains a problem for the economy. The current increase in domestic output means that experts remain positive that the employment rate will also begin to rise, but this has yet to make a major impact.

The first decade of the year 2000 was a disappointing one in U.S. manufacturing. Between January 2000 and December 2002, 1.9 million jobs were cut, a loss of about 10 percent of the entire workforce. By August 2010, a staggering 6.6 million goods-producing jobs had been eradicated across the nation. Economists have several theories about this decline. Some blame higher productivity and more efficient technologies that resulted in a reduced need for hiring workers. Others point to the government allocating more funds to the housing market than the manufacturing base of the country. Either way, the decline was bad news for many who had built careers in the industry. At the turn of the decade, the new one looked no more promising than the one before. A report released by the Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) in 2012 reported that more U.S. manufacturing jobs were lost since 2000 than had been cut during the Great Depression of the 1930s. During the Great Depression, 30.9 percent of manufacturing jobs were lost compared to 33.1 percent lost during the decade spanning 2000 to 2010.

Thankfully for those in the U.S. manufacturing industry, 2013 is showing more promise. A recent article, "U.S. Manufacturing Rebounds in June but Still Weak" discusses the recent increase in output. The problem is that the numbers are just barely enough to qualify as growth rather than decline. In fact, if the growth rate was one-ninth of a point lower, it would have been considered a contraction instead of an expansion. While this is better than nothing, compared to other countries' output growth this year, it is disheartening. For example, the Philippines saw an amazing 20.4 percent output growth in May.

The bottom line is that many manufacturing industries are reporting steady but extremely slow growth. The main problem is that so few companies are hiring workers in the field, meaning that workers in the industry are not seeing the benefits of this growth. Online communities that discuss process development in the manufacturing industry could help you stay on top of the latest news to improve your business, as well as helping you gain insights into the latest trends.

As with most other industries, U.S. manufacturing was a casualty of hard economic times. However, it is slowly making a comeback. Manufacturing employees will continue to watch the numbers, hoping that 2013 continues to see an increase in output every month, as the manufacturing industry gets ready to get them back to work.

(Photo courtesy of ahmet guler / freedigitalphotos.net)