Manufacturing Jobs Are Never Coming Back

[A-Lert]

Hispanics do most of the Construction work.  As for Trump promising jobs he promised in Lerado Texas that he would bring back jobs from China and Japan and Hispanics were going to get them.

No, Hispanics do  not do most of the construction work. There are plenty of areas in the US where there are few if any Hispanics or Latinos. Construction work is more than just laborers.

[Chosen Daughter]

No, Hispanics do  not do most of the construction work. There are plenty of areas in the US where there are few if any Hispanics or Latinos. Construction work is more than just laborers.

In my state they do.

[A-Lert]

In my state they do.

Well your view is very narrow.

[libertybele]

Trumps going to bring back those manufacturing jobs.   He said so.

Trust me he said so!   

[libertybele]

No, Hispanics do  not do most of the construction work. There are plenty of areas in the US where there are few if any Hispanics or Latinos. Construction work is more than just laborers.

In the area I live in, most of the construction contractors have mostly a Latino crew.

[mountaineer]

Very few latinos live in my state, but somehow they're in the majority on major construction jobs. The vehicles at the jobsite bearing Texas license plates might be a clue.

[jmyrlefuller]

I'll say this much: where I'm at, the construction jobs are some of the few decent paying jobs around, and they're almost all held by locals.

[DCPatriot]

I'm only a fifteen minute drive outside the Beltway.

You cannot/will not find a Caucasian or Black on a construction crew in Maryland.

You cannot find a Caucasian working in any 7-11 or fast food burger joint.

Only whites you'll see before 10AM are the ones staked out on the islands of major intersections, with their cardboard signs, asking for help.

[NavyCanDo]

You cannot find a Caucasian working in any 7-11 or fast food burger joint.

Only whites you'll see before 10AM are the ones staked out on the islands of major intersections, with their cardboard signs, asking for help.

But you sure do see a lot of Caucasions buying gas and shopping at those 7-11s and burger joints. And owning homes that that crew of Hispanics are puting a new roof on. You can look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics web site yourself, "employment by race" and clearly see employment among whites is actually on the upswing in all labor categories. Rising the fastest is the self employed who maybe once worked in manufacturing, who are now hiring people themselves. 
I have contempt for those people you speak of with the cardboard signs. I heard more than one being interviewed and you would be shocked that if they pick a good location they can make $200, $300, or more a day. Parking their car down the street and wearing shabby cloaths and looking the part. Bring a puppy or a small child with you, it pays more. Their words not mine.

[NavyCanDo]

Working in maufacturing (Boeing) I have over the last 30 years have seen first hand why so many manufacturing jobs are moving to China and Mexico. The cost of building here, and ordering parts from domestic suppliers is going up way too fast. You can blame most of it on labor cost, unions holding a knife to the companies throat every four years, the cost of benefits including heath care. All of it contributes to the cost of the airplane we are trying to sale.  Rynair a forever Boeing-only customer, and a huge one is warning us that our 737s cost too much, and Airbus who does have Final Assy in China offers a very good airplane at a lower cost. Trying to avoid moving Final Assy out of the U.S. many of out U.S. suppliers are under pressure to slash their price or the part Of the airplane they provide , big and small, will be bid out. That is the price of doibg buisness and keeping market share from slipping to Airbus. Trump's tariffs? Yea thata help. Help Boeing decide to move the entire airplane to China.

[Bill Cipher]

Thanks for posting the article. I recall participating in a financial operations business seminar at McKinsey & Co. about six years ago, and nearly everything they predicted for 5-10 years out with respect to the US business environment has now come to pass.

The idea that manufacturing jobs that used to be performed in the US can simply be returned or repatriated to America is nonsensical, even more so to suggest that such might be accomplished by government fiat.

The hard truth is that the vast majority of such jobs are indeed gone, and are not coming back.

On the other hand, the US government can do a great deal do to promote new domestic manufacturing jobs - which, to be clear, will be and are very different from legacy industry manufacturing jobs. It might do so specifically by reducing barriers to entry for new industries, such as complex Federal regulations and their associated costs, legal expenses and effective tax rates. State governments can also assist by finding ways to craft their own business tax structures and streamline their licensing and approval processes so as to attract new employers.

Another serious problem that government has helped cause but cannot directly solve is a lack of qualified, educated employees for high-tech manufacturing positions. By subsidizing college education via student loan access in generalized fields of study, and through its control of national education policy, the Federal government has impeded market forces that might have otherwise militated toward the development of a more skilled workforce, as opposed to what we have now: a surplus of unemployed graduate students with degrees in economically worthless disciplines.

No matter what the answer, any politician who claims that they are going to "bring American jobs back" is either being disingenuous or simply does not understand the nature of the problem.       

[Bigun]

Donald Trump is a lying, thoroughly corrupt, snake oil salesman and apparently there is currently a great demand for snake oil!

[Bill Cipher]

No, Hispanics do  not do most of the construction work. There are plenty of areas in the US where there are few if any Hispanics or Latinos. Construction work is more than just laborers.

Prove it.  Put up statistics.

[Bill Cipher]

Donald Trump is a lying, thoroughly corrupt, snake oil salesman and apparently there is currently a great demand for snake oil!

[Fishrrman]

Here in Connecticut there are many, many Hispanic/illegals in the construction business.

I will guess that the overwhelming majority of them are in positions in which one doesn't need a government-issued license (for such crafts as electrician, plumbing, etc.).

The licensed (American) plumbers and electricians will still have Hispanics as helpers.

But "manual labor" jobs such as carpentry, roofing, masonry -- Hispanics/illegals everywhere here.

It's like the whites have abandoned such work.
Or perhaps, they've been "pushed out" by illegals who'll work for less...

[NavyCanDo]

Here in Connecticut there are many, many Hispanic/illegals in the construction business.

I will guess that the overwhelming majority of them are in positions in which one doesn't need a government-issued license (for such crafts as electrician, plumbing, etc.).

The licensed (American) plumbers and electricians will still have Hispanics as helpers.

But "manual labor" jobs such as carpentry, roofing, masonry -- Hispanics/illegals everywhere here.

It's like the whites have abandoned such work.
Or perhaps, they've been "pushed out" by illegals who'll work for less...

I had one of these "manual labor" jobs working for a licensed plumber  doing mostly new construction, and I can tell you the pay was very low and the hours long. We got paid only after a house was done and bought off. And it came to about $60 a house and you had to work your butt off to get more than 2 houses bought off a week with our two man crew, often working till 9 or 10 at night. Even though the Journeyman I was working directly under was my brother-in-law, I hated it.   I don't care what language they speak - anyone willing to do construction laborer jobs  have my deep sympathy and respect.  And slackers in that field don't last. 

[Sanguine]

@andy58-in-nh Great article and analysis. 

4 points bear repeating:  1) the fairly high paying low skilled factory jobs just aren't coming back, 2) the federal government subsidizing higher education has resulted in (astronomically) higher costs and a large number of useless degrees, 3) we are not producing the work force we need, and 4) we are importing low-skilled labor to fill the fewer remaining low skilled jobs we have, creating a large and probably permanently unemployed group of Americans.