Report: Reshoring likely to grow under a Trump Administration
by February 19, 2017 10:10 am 415 views
Recent political trends suggest the growth of reshoring will continue and would protect and promote U.S. manufacturing jobs, according to an Intelligence Node white paper.
One of President Donald Trump’s consistent campaign promises was to bring jobs back to America. During his very first day in the White House, Trump took steps to support the domestic economy and local job creation, including manufacturing, by renegotiating and reversing planned participation in economic alliances and trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), respectively.
Critics of these global trade agreements say the deals make it easier and cheaper to make products overseas, eliminating manufacturing jobs that blue-collar workers desperately need. In a 2010 report, the Economic Policy Institute estimated that U.S. trade deficits with Mexico had displaced 682,900 US jobs since the implementation of NAFTA in 1994. Since 2000, the US has lost 5 million manufacturing jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Political protectionism, demand for local products and a renewed interest in manufacturing make the U.S. attractive. However, the economics of globalization, affordable foreign labor and consumers’ expectations make foreign markets enticing. Following are trends in manufacturing reported by Intelligence Node.
• There has been a 29% decrease in U.S. manufacturing jobs (to 12 million) since 2000.
• 8 in 10 Americans prefer to buy an item made in America rather than one imported from abroad.
• Reports indicate a 250% increase in the share of U.S.-based manufacturing companies actively reshoring production to the U.S. since 2012
• 95% of Americans’ clothes were made in the US in the 1960s, but by 2015 only 3% was produced in the U.S. and 97% was outsourced abroad.
• 3.5 million more manufacturing jobs are needed in the U.S. in the next 10 years.
• 4 million people work in sweatshops around the world and an average worker in Bangladesh makes about $67 a month or about $2 a day.