Here is some good economic news. It won't by itself change the long term unemployment, but I hope it is a sign of things slowly getting better. Bringing jobs home from other countries, and they're GREEN JOBS.
General Electric Co. plans to spend $432 million and add 500 U.S. jobs to design and make energy- efficient refrigerators, returning positions to a division up for sale as recently as 2008.
GE has created more than $1 billion in new investment and 1,300 U.S. appliance-related jobs since 2009. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said in September that he planned to bring appliance jobs back from China and Mexico, because U.S. workers were making higher-quality products for less.
Bloomberg: GE to Add 500 U.S. Appliance Jobs, Spend $432 Million
Factories and design centers in Bloomington, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Decatur, Alabama; and Selmer, Tennessee, will open during the next four years, Fairfield, Connecticut- based GE said. Designs will incorporate Energy Star standards in effect in 2014 and target the U.S.
snip
The company decided to invest at a time when the industry is suffering so that GE will be ready when business picks up with new products, Campbell said. The industry expects to sell about 38 million units in the U.S. this year, down from about 50 million in 2006 during the housing boom, he said.
Bloomberg: GE to Add 500 U.S. Appliance Jobs, Spend $432 Million
There is much more to do. But this is a small bit of good news. These are real jobs paying good wages.
We need a manufacturing sector in the US.
Last year, Leo Gerard of the USW praised President Obama's manufacturing framework:
"The Obama Administration’s manufacturing framework plan signals the beginning of a shift in federal government policy. The framework makes clear that manufacturing is important to national economic strength. An action plan needs to be developed that not only stems the hemorrhage in terms of manufacturing capacity and employment, but puts the sector back on the path to growth and job creation. The framework will help spark a policy discussion about what needs to be done to revitalize manufacturing.
"The framework plan acknowledges that 5 million manufacturing jobs lost in the last 10 years and our $840 billion trade deficit cannot be sustained.
USW Supports Obama Administration’s Manufacturing Framework Plan
In August, President Obama signed a manufacturing bill that will help rebuild American manufacturing:
Obama, noting the manufacturing workforce has atrophied by a third in the past decade with millions of people losing good-paying jobs, said a continued slide is not inevitable.
"We will rebuild this economy stronger than before and at its heart will be three powerful words: made in America," the president said.
"For too long, we've been buying too much from the rest of the world, when we should be selling more to the rest of the world.
"Over the next five years, we are going to double our exports of goods and services, an increase that will grow our economy and support millions of American jobs."
Obama signs manufacturing bill
Richard Trumka, head of the AFL-CIO, knows we cannot rebuild our economy without manaufacturing:
Richard Trumka has a message for all the so-called progressives who don't actually look out for working people: "We can't be a world-class economy unless we make things." It's the key to rebuilding our infrastructure after years of neglect, after what he notes was "the party the rich had that we didn't get to go to," to helping to stabilize the climate and most importantly, to digging us out of the economic hole we're in. Creating jobs, green jobs, innovative manufacturing jobs, he argues, could solve all of that.
Grit TV: Richard Trumka: Jobs, Jobs and More Jobs
There is a real choice this election: vote for Democrats so we rebuild manufacturing here or support the Republican policies of sending our jobs overseas.
I know which side I am on.
I'm also glad to see GE recognizing American workers and bringing jobs home.
Update I: More good news from GE:
asdf (1+ / 0-)
Recommended by:TomP
GE to bring research center and 1,100 jobs to Michigan
In a major win for the hard-hit Michigan industrial sector, GE announced today that it’s in-sourcing a key R&D facility to a site just outside of Detroit. Over the next few years, the new Advanced Manufacturing and Software Technology Center will grow to more than 1,100 scientists and engineers focusing on information technology, clean energy and aviation R&D.
Don't tax the rich, starve the poor.
by dkmich on Mon Oct 18, 2010 at 09:58:40 AM PDT