The National Science Board, the policy making body of the National Science Foundation has issued a report that says manufacturing jobs in the high-tech sector have moved offshore to the extent that nearly a quarter of all such jobs are now gone. In response, the Chicago Tribune, is reporting that the shedding of such high-tech manufacturing jobs actually began during the recession of 2001, and has contributed to a decline in America’s competitiveness.
At issue is the manufacture of high-tech products made by high-tech companies. One such example is Apple Computer Company, who at one time, the paper says, made virtually all of its products here on American soil. But as the economic climate here grew more unsteady, and the company felt pressure to be more price competitive with its products, it became increasingly difficult to justify making products here when they could be made much more cheaply overseas, particularly in China, and then shipped back as a finished product.
Apple isn’t the only one of course, chip maker Intel has manufacturing facilities all over the world, as do DELL, and Hewlett-Packard. It’s all a matter of trying to produce the best product at the lowest price they say, which in effect forces them to move their manufacturing facilities overseas.
All told the report by the government says the US lost 28 percent of such manufacturing jobs which amounted to 687,000 paid positions that are no longer here.
On a more positive note, the report also shows that some eighty five percent of all research and development growth has been due to the efforts of research laboratories in the United States, a positive sign that American ingenuity is still a vibrant part of the US economy. Also of note, the United States outspent all of Asia in such R&D efforts, with some $400 billion spent in 2009 alone. All of Asia spent $399, which means that while Asia might be working hard to catch up, they still have a long way to go. The authors also noted that for the first time in recorded history, China exported more stuff than did the United States. A sign that consumerism in that country is catching up to the west as well.
The report also details one final depressing bit of news. In the late nineteen nineties, a time when the United States was at the peak of its high-tech exports, such exports accounted for 22% of all such exports worldwide. By 2010, that number had dropped to 15 percent.