Robert Reich: Manufacturing Illusions
Manufacturing Illusions
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2012
Suddenly, manufacturing is back at least on the election trail. But dont be fooled. The real issue isnt how to get manufacturing back. Its how to get good jobs and good wages back. They arent at all the same thing.
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The fact is, American corporations both manufacturing and services are doing wonderfully well. Their third quarter profits (the latest data available) totaled $2 trillion. Thats 19 percent higher than the pre-recession peak five years ago.
But American workers arent sharing in this bounty. Although jobs are slowly returning, wages continue to drop, adjusted for inflation. Of every dollar of income earned in the United States in the third quarter, just 44 cents went to workers wages and salaries the smallest share since the government began keeping track in 1947.
The fundamental problem isnt the decline of American manufacturing, and reviving manufacturing wont solve it. The problem is the declining power of American workers to share in the gains of the American economy.
http://robertreich.org/post/17775746428