Manufacturing Employment To Decline By 1.5 Million Jobs

According to the latest figures from the Commerce Department, the U.S. lost another 31,000 manufacturing jobs in December, in addition to the 13,000 lost in November. For the year 2007, the nation lost 212,000 manufacturing jobs. Seasonally adjusted U.S. manufacturing employment now stands at 13.919 million. 2007 marks the first year that U.S. manufacturing employment has fallen below 14 million since 1950.

“The projected decline in future domestic American manufacturing employment, while not surprising, is extremely disheartening,” responded Scott Paul, director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (Washington, DC). ?The manufacturing sector has consistently offered one of the best opportunities for workers throughout the U.S. to achieve middle class prosperity. That dream is fading, though, and our elected officials need to recognize manufacturing?s job multiplier benefits and the consistently high wages it provides. Until our trade laws are enforced and our government decides to value domestic production, we?ll continue to see more layoffs and more Americans sliding down the scale to low-pay service jobs.”