About UsMembershipTrade DataCommunications and MediaTake ActionShopfloor.org Daily BlogMember ServicesPolicy PositionsHome

Note: The content at NAM.org is accessible to all versions of every browser.
However, this site will look much better in a browser that supports basic web standards.

Categories:
The Facts About Modern Manufacturing

 
Click to Buy
Perception and reality often differ.  The seventh edition of The Facts About Modern Manufacturing sets the record straight on a vitally important but misunderstood sector of our economy.  By spotlighting mostly U.S. government data about today’s manufacturing, the facts book shows the reality of both the strengths and challenges facing this industry.

Strengths

All too often the perception is that the heyday of U.S. manufacturing is in the past, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Standing by itself, U.S. manufacturing would be the eighth largest economy in the world.  There are six manufacturing pillars that support today’s U.S. economy, as the data in this book show (especially in Sections 1 and 3).As shown in the facts book, manufacturing:

  • makes the highest contribution to economic growth of any sector;
  • is responsible for more than 70 percent of private sector research and development and the center for a wide range of advanced technologies that cut energy use and lead to a cleaner environment;
  • achieves a high productivity rate year in and year out, increasing by more than 50 percent in the past decade;
  • contributes more than 60 percent of U.S. exports or about $50 billion a month;
  • pays wages and benefits that are about 25 percent higher than in non-manufacturing jobs;
  • multiplies every dollar spent into an additional $1.37 in economic activity, greater than other sectors. 

Challenges

Even with these strengths, there are many challenges for manufacturers, especially in the area of costs and encouraging young people to pursue a career in manufacturing.  Eight one percent of respondents to the Institute/NAM 2005 Skills Gap survey said they could not find qualified workers to fill open positions.  Structural costs such as taxes and health care add 31.7 percent to U.S. manufacturing costs, making it more difficult to produce from a U.S. base.  To learn more about these challenges, we recommend that you take a look at Section 2 (Engine of U.S. Innovation) and Section 4 (Domestic Environment). 

This edition of the facts book, supported by a generous grant from Toyota, is designed as a resource for policymakers, students, educators and others interesting in the future of manufacturing.  Because of its size, the sections of the book are presented below in seven separate PDF formats. 

KEY DOCUMENTS