Posted by Lee Russ A TOOL and hardware plant closes in Massachusetts; a knitting mill shuts down in North Carolina; workers are laid off at an aircraft factory in Connecticut - the decades-long decline of manufacturing in America keeps producing one sad story after another. Many of the operations that remain, whether manufacturing appliances or furniture or tools, are so vulnerable that they too could be downsizing or closing soon. Scattered through states with heavy losses are communities that resemble disaster areas, much as if hurricanes or floods had wrecked their downtowns. Massachusetts, at least, is fortunate, because it has been able to reinvent itself time and again. What were once tool factories in Worcester have been converted to restaurant, retail, and office complexes. The tobacco warehouses and glass factories of South Boston are now condominiums and artist studios. But the adjustment has been long and painful, and many people have been left out of the economic rebound. The best answer is to treat the closing of major manufacturing plants as the emergencies that they are. This means providing the intensive, comprehensive aid similar to what is given in disaster-stricken communities. The causes of manufacturing employment decline are well known. Companies lose market share to foreign low-cost producers (in the tool and furniture industries) or move their operations overseas in search of lower wages (in textiles and electrical appliances) or apply production techniques that require fewer workers (in steel and chemical industries). During the past 20 years, according to the US Department of Labor, 4.8 million jobs were lost in manufacturing, while only 200,000 were gained. Thirty-seven states lost manufacturing jobs.
on 9/26/2007, 10:26 am
75.69.88.150
Gary Chaison
Disaster relief needed for manufacturing
By Gary Chaison | September 1, 2007
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