The National Association for Manufacturers (NAM) recently published a report called “A Growth Agenda: Four Goals for a Manufacturing Resurgence in America.” In it, they assessed that manufacturers are ready to power the economy. The difficult recovery into an economic resurgence is possible with the right policies in place. This is due to the fact that manufacturing has the highest multiplier effect on any economic sector. Manufacturing investments multiply creating jobs and growth in other sectors of the economy. Manufacturing helps in making America strong.

The “Growth Agenda” gave facts about the manufacturing industry. These include:

• Manufacturing supports an estimated 17.2 million jobs in the United States—about one in six private-sector jobs. Nearly 12 million Americans (or 9 percent of the workforce) are employed directly in manufacturing.
• Taken alone, manufacturing in the US would be the eighth-largest economy in the world.
• US manufacturing produces $2.08 trillion of value each year, or 12.2 percent of US GDP. For every $1 spent in manufacturing, another $1.32 is added to the economy, the highest multiplier effect of any economic sector.

Other important anecdotes from the NAM research:

• Companies with fewer than 100 employees make up more than 94 percent of all US manufacturers. These are start-ups, family-owned businesses, and growing organizations with an entrepreneurial focus on innovation.
• US manufacturers invest greater percentages of revenue in research and development than other industries.
• Investment in equipment and software totaled $1.1 trillion in 2011, contributing to the increase in productivity.
• The US manufacturing sector has a falling “unit labor costs” while the cost of labor is increasing in emerging countries and previously low-cost countries, such as China. This improves the ability to compete globally.

These facts should give you hope that what you are doing as manufacturers is working and beneficial. Contact us to help you continue in the path of success as manufacturers.