Over the past decade, many American manufacturers have moved operations to other countries such as China and Vietnam in order to meet retailers' demands for low-cost products. Unfortunately, this outsourcing trend resulted in a loss of more than six million manufacturing jobs in the United States between 2000 and 2009. Since then, people have been looking for manufacturing jobs to return to the US. Last month, Walmart held a manufacturing summit where the CEO of Walmart US, Bill Simon, announced the company's plans to help rebuild opportunities for America's middle class.
The Walmart US Manufacturing Summit was held in Orlando, Florida, and it brought together representatives from various industries, including supplier companies, government officials, and major retail industry leaders. The goal of the summit was for retailers, suppliers, and government officials to work together to revitalize US-based manufacturing. While manufacturing positions have already begun to trickle in, these leaders feel it's important to maintain that trend. In fact, Walmart has committed to purchasing an additional $50 billion of US-made products over the next decade. Other large companies, including Brooks Brothers, Apple, and GE, have also decided to embrace the concept of revitalizing US manufacturing. However, this may not mean that middle-class America will see a huge surge in available manufacturing jobs.
According to AlterNet.org, Walmart's plans sound all too familiar. Approximately 30 years ago, Walmart launched its Buy America program. The program was a marketing success until NBC's Dateline revealed that many of the so-called made-in-America products that Walmart carried were actually imported from Bangladesh. There is also some controversy around the amount that Walmart plans to spend on US-made products. Some critics have noted that $50 billion over the next decade equals just $5 billion per year, which is only 1.5 percent of Walmart's spending on inventory.
While many factors have led to the movement of manufacturing jobs, including lower electric and natural gas prices in the US and the rising cost of labor in China, many people are glad to see manufacturing jobs returning. A report released by the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation indicates that these changes could well lead to a comeback for the American manufacturing industry. However, CNNMoney.com, reports that a manufacturing comeback won't rebuild the middle class. Because so many people lost their jobs during the recession, they've adopted a "mediocre job is better than no job" mentality. Factories are hiring more people, but employees are working at lower rates than before the recession, and according to CNNMoney.com, if this trend continues, the new manufacturing jobs cannot rebuild middle-class America.
The conflict over whether Walmart is doing as much as it can to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States isn't likely to be resolved any time soon. However, one thing everyone can agree on is that rebuilding the manufacturing industry would have a huge impact on a lot of people's lives.
(Photo courtesy of koko-tewan / freedigitalphotos.net)
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