The decline in American manufacturing is a common refrain, particularly from Donald Trump. "Wedon&39;t make anything anymore," he told Fox News, while defending his own made-in-Mexicoclothing line.
Without question, manufacturing has taken a significant hit during recent decades, and further tradedeals raise questions about whether new shocks could hit manufacturing.
But there is also a different way to look at the data.
Across the country, factory owners are now grappling with a new challenge: instead of having toomany workers, they may end up with too few. Despite trade competition and outsourcing, Americanmanufacturing still needs to replace tens of thousands of retiring boomers every years. Millennialsmay not be that interested in taking their place, other industries are recruiting them with similar orbetter pay.
For factory owners, it all adds up to stiff competition for workers－and upward pressure on wages. "They&39;re harder to find and they have job offers," says Jay Dunwell, president of Wolverine CoilSpring, a family-owned firm, "They may be coming [into the workforce], but they&39;ve been pluckedby other industries that are also doing an well as manufacturing," Mr. Dunwell has begun bringinghigh school juniors to the factory so they can get exposed to its culture.
At RoMan Manufacturing, a maker of electrical transformers and welding equipment that his fathercofounded in 1980, Robert Roth keep a close eye on the age of his nearly 200 workers, five areretiring this year. Mr. Roth has three community-college students enrolled in a work-placementprogram, with a starting wage of $13 an hour that rises to $17 after two years.
At a worktable inside the transformer plant, young Jason Stenquist looks flustered by the coppercoils he&39;s trying to assemble and the arrival of two visitors. It&39;s his first week on the job. Askedabout his choice of career, he says at high school he considered medical school before switching toelectrical engineering. "I love working with tools. I love creating." he says.
But to win over these young workers, manufacturers have to clear another major hurdle: parents,who lived through the worst US economic downturn since the Great Depression, telling them toavoid the factory. Millennials "remember their father and mother both were laid off. They blame iton the manufacturing recession," says Birgit Klohs, chief executive of The Right Place, a businessdevelopment agency for western Michigan.
These concerns aren&39;t misplaced: Employment in manufacturing has fallen from 17 million in 1970to 12 million in 2013. When the recovery began, worker shortages first appeared in the high-skilledtrades. Now shortages are appearing at the mid-skill levels. "
The gap is between the jobs that take to skills and those that require a lot of skill," says Rob Spohr,a business professor at Montcalm Community College. "There&39;re enough people to fill the jobs atMcDonalds and other places where you don&39;t need to have much skill. It&39;s that gap in between, andthat&39;s where the problem is."
Julie Parks of Grand Rapids Community points to another key to luring Millennials intomanufacturing: a work/life balance. While their parents were content to work long hours, youngpeople value flexibility. "Overtime is not attractive to this generation. They really want to live theirlives," she says.
A、says that he switched to electrical engineering because he loves working with tools。
B、 points out that there are enough people to fill thejobs that don ’t need much skill 。
C、points out that the US doesn’t manu facture anything anymore。
D、believes that it is important to keep a close eye on the age of his workers。
[E] says that for factory owners，workers are harder to find because of stiff competition。
[F] points out that a work/life balance can attract young people into manufacturing。
[G] says that the manufacturing recession is to15 blame for the lay-off the young people’s parents 。
41.Jay Deuwell______________
42.Jason Stenquist______________
43.Birgit Klohs______________
44.Rob Spohr______________
45.Julie Parks______________
41__________
42
43
44
45
