Jobs returning to the U.S.

The title of this article caught my attention: After “lemming” exodus, manufacturers look to U.S.

Frankly, it was the lemming in the header that did; the implication that when one goes they all go, often resulting in a mass migration turning into mass death.

To me, that’s what it implies—mass death of companies that took their manufacturing from the United States and sent it overseas where labor was cheaper. In that search for cheapness, what did they lose?

Jim McNerney, chief executive of world No. 2 planemaker Boeing had this to say about it: “We lost control in some cases over quality and service when we did that, we underestimated in some cases the value of our workers back here.”

 Boeing isn’t the only company returning its manufacturing to the United States: GE is as well.

 GE CEO Jeff Immelt said the largest U.S. conglomerate’s thinking evolved on the value of manufacturing inside the United States versus outside it.

“We’re basically moving our appliance manufacturing back from Mexico and China to basically Louisville (Kentucky),” he said. “When we looked at it on a cost basis, our labor is still higher, but it’s closer than it’s been in the past. And both materials and distribution are less expensive in the United States than imported. So we see the opportunity to bring jobs — certain jobs, not every job — back. And we think this is going to take place in areas like software as well.”

But what’s really needed to bring manufacturing jobs back to America? Education. Educating businesses, yes, that there’s more to staying in America than meets the eye but more importantly, education workers to tackle the technology necessary to work in these new manufacturing jobs.