Blogger Michael Schuman's post really forced me to rethink our perspective on manufacturing. All of us know that China will get all of the manufacturing jobs, right? Maybe not.Schuman argues that in fact, America can compete with China. This is not an issue of wages; this is an issue on expertise and goods manufactured. We make the high-end products, and China makes the low-end products. It's just that China wants to move up the value ladder, and when they do so, workers get more expertise and bargaining power. And when China is considering the welfare of Chinese workers in its policy, worker wages will go up. And manufacturing jobs will move elsewhere, when China becomes more and more like us.
But at the same time, manufacturing is slowly but surely replacing its workers with robots and machines. Schuman notes that though presently we equate manufacturing with jobs, in the future manufacturing will take less low-skilled employment in exchange for more IT jobs. At the end of it all, manufacturing jobs will be based more on innovation and expertise than low wages, places where America has the advantage.
So how are we going to get more jobs for low-skilled workers? I have no idea. I'm just going to say that education has never been more important, and that the government should seriously review their reasons for cutting funding for education. America needs it to stay competitive in an increasingly skilled labor market.
4 comments:
I believe that we will shift from manufacturing jobs to more service jobs. China can make low-end products for much less because they can pay their workers less. However, I believe that service jobs like plumbing or car repairs will increase over the years. Machines won't be able to fix pipes or cars efficiently in the near future because each time these things break it tends to be a different problem. However, these jobs will require education as well. Therefore I do agree with you that education is highly important in today's society, and government cuts in education will inevitably impact society in a negative way.
I agree that education will become more important as this trend continues, and would like point out that specialization education will be increases in bounds as time goes on. No longer will general bachelor degrees be adequate for running specific machines that are tuned to fix situations that are unique as Tony brought up. Instead, we will need to. As time progresses, we will begin turning to master and Ph.d degrees as the norm in the workforce.
As far as low-skilled workers, they must either learn a new skill, or perish in structural unemployment.
I also think that America will always be the one to excel in manufacturing based on innovation and expertise. I also feel bad for the low skilled workers who will lose their jobs to machines. I think the only chance they have to get out is to get an education which will be very difficult since most of them will already be very old to attend school. I also seriously think that America should stop cutting into our education savings because education is the key to better welfare for poorer people.
I agree with all the above stated. I do feel for the low-skilled workers that will lose their job to machines. True, some of them are just lazy and didn't want to go through more school, but some of them really cannot afford a higher education because the governement has made it so expensive to go to a four-year college. Sure there are scholarships and grants out there, but sometimes that isn't enough and sometimes people are too qualified to receive any help, yet do not have nearly enough money to pay for it in their own. I strongly believe that the government needs to stop cutting education funds and stop making it harder for people to get a better education so that they can survive in this economy.
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