Want more service jobs? Make sure people have money to pay for services. This feels like a strong basis for UBI
Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
131–140 of 265 posts
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is very easy to zoom out an fit a line but the step like changes at certain points are interesting. Averaging over the variations might throw away a lot of interesting information. But you are right about one thing, the curve has not dipped up appreciably in the last 30 years. All I see are steps, plateau's where the level is kept before the next drop. EDIT: can't do math or I keep thinking it's 2000's still.
Agreed that it'd be interesting to try to figure out what explains those cycles and steps. Recessions in general? Would be interesting to see what correlated with those points in time.
At least in the last 40 years of that graph, recessions seems to be it.
A recession hits, some people get fired (sticky wages, etc, etc), the recovery comes and it's cheaper to automate stuff than hire people. Then things coast for a while. The cost of automation keeps falling, people keep getting relatively more expensive, but in good times generally you don't get people getting fired en masse because times are good and the employer is making a profit anyway. Then a recession comes, and the cycle repeats...
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#133Because employees of manufacturers have more power in the value chain than in most other jobs that employee high school graduates. This pushes up middle class wages without government intervention.
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#134I work at a steelworks in Australia. The economic conditions are not identical to America but a lot of the same pain exists.
Australia also has worse Anti-dumping protections then the US. China is dumping steel (i.e selling below cost) into our market - see: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-28/china-trade-arrangemen...
The government deciding to build a submarine fleet 'in Australia' was a huge election issue. The local unions around here are campaigning on forcing state government to use 'local' steel as a condition of their tender process for infrastructure projects. I think they have a point somewhat, it is pretty absurd that they built a sports stadium about 2km up the road from our huge steel plant and imported all the Steel for it.
I don't think there is an easy answer. Throwing the industry the odd submarine or two to supply material for isn't long term sustainable. However If it is enough to kick-start a ship building industry though who knows...
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#135There is a lot more dignity of work in manufacturing. You're not servicing some old person who can afford to have a home health aid--you're making a product for people to buy (including other people like you).
As someone that works in manufacturing (on the ERP systems side), I assure you that the dignity non-unionized assembly line workers feel is about what you'd get from any highly repetitive $10 - $20 an hour job with scant pay raises. Having been around the assembly line, I'd definitely recommend someone try life as a barista or bartender or Costco employee before stepping foot in a factory.
It is weird how people who never worked on an assembly line go on and on about the desirability of manufacturing jobs.
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#136Manufacturing is a target because it's easy for people to see concrete results. They can point at something and say, "we made that", and it tends to generate some sense of pride. The same doesn't really apply for service industries or innovation in the service industries: "we produced consumer surplus by lowering transportation costs via automation" doesn't roll off the tongue as well. :) The same problem exists for…
Manufacturing also provides jobs for both high and low skill workers. As such can be seen as more valuable to a community than say, a software company that only hires engineers and a CS center in a different state. Manufacturing was one of the best roads for a low skill worker to earn good money and move up the rung economically - something that only seems to be getting harder as time goes on.
Then again, software is one of the few industries where you can do quite well without a formal degree or license.
This makes it unusually open to the uncredentialed, if not the unskilled.
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#137Politicians are amateurs. I don't mean that in a pejorative way. Politicians are experts at politics, they can achieve consensus in seemingly impossible circumstances. If you pick a random politician, and ask them to design a transmission, or perform open heart surgery, they'd do as poorly as you or me. Yes, there are politicians from all walks of life, and you can probably find a surgeon politician. In general, the…
I'd say the core skill of politicians is to get elected.
Writing good laws is not entirely unimportant, but it is a much smaller factor. And, as you say, they have experts to help out with that stuff.
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#138And
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
But there aren't a finite number of factories. If more factory work gets automated, then it will reduce the cost of building more factories and producing even more goods. Whereas service jobs seem more finite. There is only a finite demand for burgers or shelf stockers, unless you increase the population. I really don't understand how a mostly service based economy is sustainable. In any case, the service based jobs…
Human desires are more infinite though. We all want a bigger house, faster car, cooler phone, a masseuse appointment every week, etc.
I experience an increasing renaissance of undemandingness.
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#140Manufacturing jobs and service sector jobs are not mutually exclusive. Historical trends do not represent an evolving sophisticated economical stragety, but document economical needs met. The author suggests manufacturing jobs are irrelevant, but all jobs are relevant and necessary.