Americans Are to Blame for the Lack of American Jobs
Like most Americans, it is in our nature to complain that there are no jobs. The economy is rough, jobs are limited, and people are really hurting when it comes to money. For a lot of families, this previous Christmas was probably not as glutenous as previous ones had been and that is because of the economy. However, even before the economy was bad, the big complaint that most Americans had was that all of these manufacturing jobs were leaving the United States and going overseas. Jobs were leaving America and going to other countries.
At first, I was in agreement with most Americans. This was awful and it was something that we needed to prevent. Indians were taking customer support jobs; Chinese factories were creating things that American factories used to make. The big argument of “buy American” hit and suddenly there was this grand effort to buy American.
For good or for bad, that buy American mentality never took off. As much as Americans wanted to buy American, when the appeal of Wal-Mart and those inexpensive stores hit their minds, it didn’t matter how much Americans wanted to buy American. More important to them was the idea of buying cheap. So, it went from “buy American” to “buy cheap goods.” Wal-Mart is great…If you’re looking for mass produced goods that are inexpensive.
What does this have to do with the lack of American jobs?
To get prices that inexpensive for goods, they have to be made where it is cheaper to manufacture. With all of these laws and minimum wage rules, it is increasingly more difficult to produce goods in the United States. Add the fact that a Chinese factory can do it for a tenth of the cost and the cause for the continuous drop in American jobs is realized. Americans want as much as they can get for as little as possible and because of this, the American job has been stolen right from underneath them.
The big question that remains is: what can we do to prevent it? The obvious, but unrealistic solution is to honestly buy American. If Americans are willing to pay more for goods and not complain, companies will send their factories back to the United States. If the appeal for an American good is that strong, factories will start popping up again in the United States. However, that is not the most prosperous way for the United States to go. Instead of being the manufacturing power, it is beneficial to America to continue rising in the development process.
In the 1980s, the “made in China” stigma was on Japan. When you held a product in your hand that was “made in Japan,” you knew that you had a lower quality good. They were making the base level products for the United States and Western Europe to purchase. However, as time went on, these base level factories began to expand and develop. Soon enough, these base level factories were starting to create their own factories. Think of it like Americans making rubber bands for a European company and then making cars for an American company. As their economy developed, they turned into the creator of the idea while China and Taiwan became the creator of the product.
So long as American people want cheap goods, those goods are going to be made in other countries because American factories can’t produce them for that cheap. So, it’s a catch 22, America. If you want cheap goods, accept the drop in manufacturing jobs. If you want manufacturing jobs, accept the higher cost in goods. Or, accept the inevitable.
America no longer is a manufacturing country. The GDP in America has continuously grown even though there are fewer manufacturing jobs. Rather than trying to hold on to old ways and begging politicians to push “buy American” policies, we should accept the fact that we’ve moved up in the food chain. We are even higher than we were before and so long as we continue to stay one step ahead of other countries with their own technological development, we will continue to stay rich. However, if we try so desperately to hold our old ways and are not progressive in our economic development, we will get left behind. That’s globalization for you.
Image was found on Flicker courtesy Call to Sign.
The problem is not entirely a result of Americans unwilling to pay higer prices for “Made in America” brands. A significant problem in this country is that Americans believe white collar jobs are the only sign of success and anything less indicates personal failure.
Chris Kuehls, Chief Economist for the Fabricators and Manufacturing Association said on January 8th: “There are still hundreds of thousands of jobs in the manufacturing, but, unfortunately, the people that are looking for jobs don’t necessarily have the skills necessary to get into this field now.”
Additionally, according to a 2009 study by Deloitte in the manufacturing institute, manufacturing tops a list of 7 key industries that’s most important to the US economy, yet only 17 percent of young Americans desire a job in manufacturing and only 30 percent of parents said they’d encouraged their kids to learn a trade.
Perhaps pressure of the job market will push people towards a career of working with their brains and hands and take manufacturing back from the rest of the world.
I agree with you, Dennis, that people tend to think that manufacturing jobs are not appealing. However, why is that? For one, we’ve got programs like “No Child Left Behind” that pass everyone through so there is this idea that the child can succeed in college. If high school was so much easier, college will be easy as well.
Another thing is that the sole purpose in life now is to go to college. Everyone should “go to college because that’s how you succeed.” We’re taught that everywhere. So, rather than going to do a trade or work in a factory, the kids are ushered into college.
It needs to start in two places. The first is at home with the parents. If your child looks like they’re not going to succeed in college, don’t force it. It’s a waste of your money. And, the second is at high schools. High schools should show the entire work spectrum, not just college. Now, do I think that associate degrees should be pushed? Yeah, those are a great thing. They teach basic things that increase the intelligence of this country.