American Manufacturing and the U.S Economy Essay

The unemployment rate in America is a huge factor with noticing on how well the labor force has been doing in the past. Overall the unemployment rate in America has been slowly decreasing in the past couple of years. “The unemployment rate hit 10 percent in October [2009], and there are good reasons to believe that by 2011, 2012, even 2014, it will have declined only a little” (Peck). It is a slow process, but hopefully in the future it will not be a problem anymore. Another statistic that should be looked at is the poverty rate in America. “The official poverty rate in 2006 was 12.3 percent, down from 12.6 percent in 2005” (U.S. Census Bureau). The poverty level has relatively remained level and has not changed drastically. The poverty

The U.S. government encourages the U.S. companies to sell their products in other countries because other countries may offer better opportunities for growth.

The unemployment rate has dramatically increased over the last several months. This increase has created many complications for the American people. Although the United States economy has created over 7 million jobs, there is still a long way to go until the economy is back on track.

Another problem that will add to the rising unemployment rates according to David Pinsen in his article named why is the unemployment rate so high “China has devalued their currency so that they could create a job market boom.” If the cost to do business in the United States keeps rising we will lose more business overseas.

Modern America can be considered one of the world’s economic and industrial leaders. This didn’t happen instantaneously. It was a long process that took centuries to occur from when America was first colonized by England. America started slow and far behind England and other European countries in the technology race but a diverse culture and the work ethic of American people all helped to push this country forward. From antebellum America in the 19th century, to the Progressive Era in the late 19th century and early 20th century, and finally to the New Deal period in the 20th century, many changes occurred as millions of people lives were affected greatly during this time. Throughout these eras in U.S. history, there was a general

problem at hand is the rising rate of unemployment. This problem must be dealt with

American’s now quite overwhelmingly agree that this is not the case. Another secondary argument is that the way the United States has dealt with the Chinese in terms of trade has presented many challenges to American employment. Where the United States once dominated manufacturing, China now leads the world by creating goods for extremely low costs, harnessing innovation in manufacturing technology and orchestrating the theft of intellectual properties. Bonvillian makes a point to mention that innovation in Chinese manufacturing is typically understated in discussions, as most are only concerned with the underpayment of the Chinese workforce. A counterpoint to the belief that a nation has to underpay its workers to succeed in manufacturing is the example of Germany. A large number of German citizens work in manufacturing for high wages, creating more expensive goods. The German’s run a trade surplus with China because of their trade strategies. Another great secondary claim is that the United

Most specifically is China. In fact, “If it were a nation, in and of itself, Wal-Mart would be China’s eighth trading partner” (Matusitz and Leanza 192). This is because wages in China are far less than the typical wages in America, resulting in much cheaper product costs. Smith says, “suppliers have told us that they have felt real strong, particularly opening price point, pressure from Wal-Mart that has effectively forced them to make decisions to move overseas” (26:37). Wal-Mart’s suppliers are forced to manufacture products so as to make a profit. This has consequently resulted in the loss of American manufacturing jobs. Not only have American jobs been affected but jobs overseas have been affected as well; “even bringing about the apparently stunning spectacle of Wal-Mart caving in to unionization in China, globalization has only weakened the chinese working class” (Blecher 275). Workers in China now have a union but are still paid very little. Although they are paid very little, they have come to rely on whatever small amount it is that they make. In an interview with Frontline, Donald Hay, owner of Hay’s factory in China, says, “They[Chinese factory workers] want to work. They want to earn the money. They want to get forward. And they will do anything to move forward” (Smith and Young 30:49). Earning much less than a dollar per hour, the workers are motivated to work harder so they might be able to move

If you ever question whether American made matters, consider the way that the U.S. automotive industry has devolved. At one time, American auto makers led the world in their sector. Today, jobs that were formerly held by Americans have been outsourced to workers in other countries. In order to inject new life to the Middle Class and level the playing field once again, we must insist on the availability of American made products. Our buying decisions could make all the difference for Americans now and in the future.

As the world has gotten “smaller” in terms of trade, outsourcing has become a hot topic in much political and economic debate in the United States.

getting laid off once again. With more people getting laid off from their jobs the

In the years following the war, once everything had settled down and the United States of America was whole again, technology really began to pick up. At the start of the 1870s, America was in the beginning stages of becoming a very technologically advanced nation. Some of the key ingredients that America already had for the future were, electricity, steal, railroads, chemistry, and the most important one of all engineers of production. These engineers were innovators and wanted to be able to mass-produce anything that they could. In order to mass-produce at a high capacity, the engineers believed that America must create parts interchangeably. This enabled manufacturers to manufacture things such as, guns, clocks, bicycles, typewriters, and even engines very quickly. Whether America knew it or not, this was the beginning to something that would forever change the way the world operated.

Currently the unemployment rate is twenty-three percent (Roberts). That is a very high rate compared to past when

Americans have been bombarded by new worries in recent days with the war in Libya, unrest in much of the Middle East, and the seemingly endless series of catastrophes in Japan as reported by a recent Gallup poll measuring economic confidence. Added to that, there is a weak job market, increasing fuel prices, and fierce budget battles in Congress, obviously, it is clear the U.S. economy still faces

Additionally, because of businesses, jobs are being lost. Multiple studies have pointed to businesses being lost. An example would be how “in 2014 Google was valued at $307 billion with only 55,000 employees, a tenth of AT&T’s in the 1960’s (West 1).” The past may be evidence to see a timelapse in the near future.