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posted by janrinok on Sunday January 01 2017, @09:57AM   Printer-friendly
from the place-your-bets-now dept.

... if you ask actual manufacturing executives, they're far more bullish on America's future than many of its political leaders. On Thursday, professional services firm Deloitte teamed up with the Council on Competitiveness to release its 2016 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index, showing that the United States is the second most competitive manufacturing economy after China. What's more, global manufacturing executives predict that by 2020, the United States will be the most competitive manufacturing economy in the world.

So why has the United States been shooting up the ranks? Long gone are the days when cheap labor was the most important input for manufacturers. Total manufacturing employment in China peaked during the 1990s and has been falling ever since. And as manufacturing continues to reduce the number of workers needed, the important ingredients to success in the sector are whether advanced technologies and materials are available, and whether or not intellectual property protections are strong. The United States beats out China on both of these scores.

This is not to say that anxiety over the decline of manufacturing employment is misguided. While it's good that manufacturing firms think that the United States is a great place to do business, their success in America will not have the same impact, in terms of providing a huge number of well-paying jobs, as they did a half-century ago.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @11:48AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @11:48AM (#448101)
    I doubt the analysts in Italy, Greece, Russia etc have their heads that far up their anuses.

    They still have to pretend they know stuff.
  • (Score: 3, Funny) by driverless on Sunday January 01 2017, @11:58AM

    by driverless (4770) on Sunday January 01 2017, @11:58AM (#448104)

    I dunno about that, I asked a Greek analyst the other day and he just yelled at me through his beard, "This is Athens!". Or Piraeus, or Heraklion. Something like that.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @01:49PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 01 2017, @01:49PM (#448115)
      That's just madness.