Is Manufacturing Maintains Middle Class, Misleading?

Manufacturing Maintains Middle Class?

A... not as much as you may think.

The Allen Bradley clock tower in Milwaukee above the global headquarters of Rockwell Automation. (Sophie Quinton)

Below is a link to a very informative article that while the irony of it may entertain you, it brings to light some good points. Many proclaim "Manufacturing maintains our middle class", but when you think about it, as the author of this article does in exploring the Rockwell Automation manufacturing company, you too may say...

... a, not so much.

The highlights of the article linked to below are: While one may tout "for every 10 manufacturing jobs, another 5 are supporting jobs are created", in context, that can be a misleading statement as far as USA middle class jobs are concerned. The writer points out the fact that many of those manufacturing jobs require a 4 year or greater degree. Also the author points out two other important facts. Those 5 additional supporting jobs created by new manufacturing often don't pay a living wage (not middle class) and not all 5 will be in the USA in today's global economy. Those are 3 very important points to consider when someone proclaims manufacturing supports the middle class now days. It may be as the author alludes to... manufacturing used to support the middle class.

Click This Is the Way Blue-Collar America Ends - Sophie Quinton - The Atlantic: "supply chain supporting manufacturing" to read this informative and enlightening article.

Oh yea, the irony. The company the author picked to use as an example, Rockwell Automation is in the business of automating manufactures so they are more productive with less employees.

What do you think? Please tell us by commenting below.

Don (Follow me on Industrial Skills Training Blog and on Twitter @IndTraining .)Be sure to add me to your Google+ circles to stay on top!