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Manufacturing and the consumer class

A contributor for Forbes wrote a blog asking a basic question: If manufacturing doesn’t pay particularly well compared to other industries (and according to these BLS stats, it doesn’t), and if margins are slim, why do politicians continually focus on “bringing manufacturing back” to the United States?

There are plenty of ways to counter this argument. First, the wage data is a bit skewed. If you perfect a skill, your wages go up significantly, as shown by the results of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association annual Wage & Salary Survey. Top CNC programmers, welders, and others can make $80,000 a year or more, a wage that can support an upper-middle-class lifestyle in many areas of the country.

Second, there are many of these positions available. In fact, nearly every time I talk with a metal fabricator, they mention the challenge of finding people. If they had a good source of skilled personnel, they say, they could grow the company faster.

Of course, some question whether the skilled labor crisis is real, and what skills are really needed in this business. A lot of it may have to do with the broader problem (in manufacturing and elsewhere) of finding engaged, curious people who care about doing the best they can. The problem’s roots may be in our education system and perhaps even our parenting.

Regardless, manufacturing offers a wide range of skilled positions with which a person (with enough experience) can make a living wage. Put another way, manufacturing helps more people make enough money to become consumers.

You won’t find this in, say, retail and many other service jobs, where you have thousands of low-paid individuals at the bottom of the pyramid, which doesn’t have much room in the middle or the top. Of course, the “middle” of the manufacturing career-path pyramid may not be as strong as it used to be. A few highly skilled individuals can run a host of high-tech manufacturing machinery. It’s why initiatives, such as Walmart’s promise to invest in stateside manufacturing, aren’t producing as many jobs as people would like.

Still, you have the technology transfer and multiplier benefits. Innovation and adaptation happen faster and more effectively when you have manufacturing nearby. Manufacturing contributes tremendously to research and development. And one manufacturing plant can support myriad businesses to supply parts, offer maintenance, and more, all essentially feeding the community’s economic engine.

Perhaps the problem with the politicians using the phrase “bring manufacturing back” is that it’s a tad misleading. It’s not realistic to expect Apple to transfer its entire phone production—including its massive supply chain infrastructure—to the United States. There are exceptions, but for the most part, we’re not bringing products back from overseas en masse. What politicians really should say is, “We need to manufacture new products here.”

I cover manufacturing every day, so I’ll admit I’m biased. Regardless, it's hard to argue with manufacturing's historical significance. This industry built the middle class—a consumer class. As the wage divide is widening, this consumer class is fading. For the United States, a consumer-based economy, that can’t be a good thing.

About the Author
The Fabricator

Tim Heston

Senior Editor

2135 Point Blvd

Elgin, IL 60123

815-381-1314

Tim Heston, The Fabricator's senior editor, has covered the metal fabrication industry since 1998, starting his career at the American Welding Society's Welding Journal. Since then he has covered the full range of metal fabrication processes, from stamping, bending, and cutting to grinding and polishing. He joined The Fabricator's staff in October 2007.