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China build its solar industry with huge subsidies, the US did not. From 2018 to 2022 the US solar industry suffered with lack of help from the US government under the Trump administration and the first year of the Biden administration. 30 US based solar companies shutdown in a bloodbath and many jobs were lost. Enter the climate law in 2022 under president Biden and in 2023 the US investment in solar reached $8 billion, three times what it was in the previous 6 years. 

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President Trump's focus in the State of the Union message in 2020 in the U.S. Congress was on what he had done for U.S. prestige and perception- "In three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American decline and we have rejected the downsizing of America's destiny. We have totally rejected the downsizing." "We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never going back." The theme of the speech- "The Great American Comeback." No longer were other nations be allowed to take advantage of America, American interests would come first, and this also meant blue collar working families and middle class. Trade deals with Mexico and Canada, trade deal with China, reversing of the trade deficit, bringing back about 12,000 of the 60,000 thousand factories lost over two administrations Democratic and Republican of the last 16 years with many more factories in the pipeline, increasing jobs and incomes in an unprecedented way, were all the focus of the speech. The president basically sidestepped the impeachment for Ukraine policy and implementation, and focussed on the optimism from reversing American decline in trade, jobs, and manufacturing under past Republican and Democratic administrations.   ...

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Otis Elevator is moving a plant based in Nogales, Mexico, back to the U.S. This plant was moved to Mexico in 1998 for cost reasons. Now Otis CEO, Didier Michaud-Daniel, says producing at a new South Carolina plant will cost less than Mexico. Logistics and freight costs are 17.3% less in the U.S. than Mexico, and an additional 20% in savings come from "efficiencies" gained by having all its white collar workers associated with elevator design and production. Most companies that manufacture in China and Mexico keep their design and engineering jobs in the the U.S. It is not clear to what extent American companies have considered all the costs of separating design and engineering from manufacturing, including the opportunities for close cooperation possible in one location that are lost when everything is so spread out. At Otis toolmakers in Dallas and engineers and designers located in Indiana and Arizona traveled to the Nogales, Mexico plant. This can be especially important when as in Otis's case the new plant in Florence, South Carolina, plans the launch of a new generation of elevator designs. In this case there is an added benefit by making it easier for customers to visit the plant and look at the product. The new plant will have more automation and use fewer workers on the factory floor. The new factory will employ 360 workers including white collar workers, the same as the Nogales, Mexico, plant with a lower number of factory floor workers. ...

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President Trump tells Mexico to either slow the increasing flow of migrants from Guatemala or face higher tariffs on Mexico's exports to the U.S. For the first time in recent decades Trump uses tariffs as a tool of diplomacy to reverse policies of countries with which it is in an unfavorable position. For the first time Trump uses negotiations to convey America's position that when it comes to some issues such as migration or trade because of the slippage in America's middle class incomes the U.S. should be considered as the same as a developing country. So that no preference should be given to other countries to the detriment of people in the U.S. when it comes to jobs, incomes, and funding for social services. Mexico a developing country could no longer insist that Guatemalans should not find a home in Mexico just because it was a developing country, if its policies supported the flow of migrants from Guatemala to the U.S. as in the case of Mexican president Lopez Obrador.   ...

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Rattner looks with alarm at recent figures showing that of 2.65 million jobs created in the U.S. in 2015, only 30,000 were in manufacturing. He reflects on growth in manufacturing with the recovery in automobile manufacturing between 2009- 2013 - during this period employment in the U.S. auto industry went up by 23 percent to 690,000, and employment in Mexico's auto industry went up by 60 percent to 589,000, showing much faster growth overseas. Manufacturing has also experienced decline in private sector wages of 0.8% since 2009, with auto industry wages down 12.7 percent, says Rattner.

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Samuelson says the bill in the U.S. Senate is symbolic because it allows companies to cite the undervalued renminbi as an illegal subsidy and have the Commerce Department impose duties on Chinese products. This would have to be done on a case by case basis, making it largely ineffective in dealing with the large trade deficit with China. He also cites the differences among economists that show a range between 1 million and 2.8 million jobs lost. The 2.8 million jobs estimate is from the Economic Policy Institute for the period 2001-2010. The 1 million is an estimate for 1990-2007, which estimates a loss of quarter of all manufacturing jobs. By WTO rules subsidies that are not targeted at specific industries or firms are allowed, according to lawyers. Which means China could appeal to the WTO, and impose retaliatory duties. In the meantime the trade deficit with China, with imports of $364 billion in 2010, and $86 billion in exports, would remain largely unaffected. This is the reason some Senators, including Republican Orrin Hatch (Utah), see this move as political posturing by President Obama and the Democrats, because the administration has no new proposals to address the trade deficit and the gradual erosion of America's manufacturing base. Samuelson cites Arvind Subramanium of the Peterson Institute, and his book "Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China's Economic Dominance." Subramanium says what is at stake is not a temporary imbalance in world trade a happened with Japan in the 1980's, but a gradual shift to a system of trade in which China has preferential access to raw materials (oil, grain, minerals), subsidizes exports in new industries as it moves upscale from shoes and textiles to automobiles, aircraft and alternative energy, and changes the very nature of the global trading system as it becomes the dominant trading nation in the world. By Subramanium's estimate China's share of global trade increased from 1.6% to 9.8% in the 2 decades from 1990 to 2010. In two more decades he estimates China could increase this to 15% of global trade, significantly larger than the U.S. In a response to Congressmen, businessmen and policymakers wary of starting a trade war, Samuelson says there already is a trade war as a "fixed" system of trade undermines America's manufacturing and industrial base. The only difference being that today only one side is fighting that war, and America is slow to grasp the implications or its policymakers are clueless how to respond....

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President Biden was the first US president on a picket line when he joined the picket line at a UAW strike in Wixom, Michigan recently. Here Gene Sperling the Biden liason with the autoworkers UAW union, says Biden believes in a strategy that counters technological disruption in a different way. Biden wants companies to retool, reinvest and rehire workers in the same impacted community. This is the striking difference with Biden compared to any of his predecessors Reagan, Clinton, Obama, and the two Bush presidents. Not only will the president's support ensure 1200 jobs are preserved, another 1000 union jobs will be added at the Belvedire, Illinois location and $4.8 billion will be invested by Stellantis for a new parts distribution center and and electric vehicle factory.

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Countries dependent on remittances of workers overseas are hit hard by the coronavirus. This WSJ report shows the situation in Central America which gets $24 billion in remittances form its workers in the U.S. E Salvador gets $5.6 billion in remittances. This is down by 40% in April central bank numbers show, because of jobs lost in the U.S. by workers from El Salvador who migrated to the U.S.  Unemployment rate for Hispanics in April was 20%. El Salvador depends on remittances more than any other Latin American country as remittances are higher than exports. In some rural areas this means older residents have no money to buy food and depend on charities for food supplies.

Today the situation in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and other countries in Asia which depend on remittances of overseas workers is also leading to a difficult time for families dependent for such support.

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There are some major problems in the American jobs market which suggest a long drawn out effort to reduce the high unemployment rate. One is the divergence between the vacancies that are developing and the rate at which firms are filling these vacancies. With vacancies remaining, unfilled and firms remaining cautious about the economic outlook and leery of hiring, the increase in economic output or GDP growth of 3% expected on the optimistic side in 2011 is not translating into lower unemployment. Structural problems are causing a great deal of difficulty in reducing the jobless rate. The recession hit manufacturing and construction very hard. And those who worked in these industries are not those with the skills and training to take up jobs in health care and education or other similiar fields- here skill mismatches are the problem. Geographic factors and the property prices drop are creating additional barriers. About 25% of mortgage borrowers owe more than their property is worth, and their are fewer buyers in regions with depressed job prospects like Michigan. There is a large increase in long term unemployment- over 27 weeks. Those out of work for more than 6 months see their skiils, job connections and confidence erode. A Brookings Institution paper estimates that this rise in long term unemployment by itself can cause labor market recovery to take twice as long as after the 1982 recession under Reagan, when unemployment reached a high of 10.8% and took 2 years to get back to 7.5%. Add to this the fact that a lot of jobs were lost in 2008 and 2009, with a six percentage increase in unemployment in a short period unmatched by anything since the Great Depression, with long term unemployed reaching 6.5 millon or nearly half of the total. And the 3% growth rate estimated by the government is anything but certain. It is questioned by the IMF as a stretch. This does not take into account the problems in the banking sector, as home equity loans gone bad show up on their balance sheets in latter part of 2010. According to a CreditSights report (see the US economy in 2010 in Group search for more information on this) with estimated losses of $33 billion. A struggling banking sector and tighter credit will add a structural dimension from the banking sector to the wobbly hiring. The "muddle through" approach to banking problems of the Obama administration in tackling bank's bad debt will continue to pose risks....

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According to Census Bureau data analyzed by the Pew Research Center, 6.1 million Hispanic children lived in poverty in 2010. The poverty line is defined as a family of four living on $22,314. Of the total poor children in 2010, 37.3% were Hispanic, 30.5% white, and 26.6% black. Hispanics were hit hard by the 2008-2009 recession because many are employed in construction and the hospitality industries or blue collar jobs. A majority of the Hispanic children were born in the U.S. 4.1 million have immigrant parents and 2.0 million have U.S. born parents. Of the total U.S. population Latinos are 16%, yet they comprise 23% of all the children in the country. With a quarter of America's children being Latino -and with these numbers expected to grow in coming years because of higher birth rates- the fact that many of these children are less likely to get a college education or acquire technical skills because of poverty levels, has serious implications for America's future competitiveness.

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The Labor Dept. reported the U.S. added a seasonally adjusted 96,000 jobs in August 2012, down from 141,000 jobs in July 2012.

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Stephens of NYT shows the effects of zero interest rates in shifting trillions of dollars of wealth away from the middle and lower classes in America. Zero interest rates in 2009 were a response to a financial crisis created by the irresponsible behaviour of Banks and financial firms in the US. The loss of manufacturing and shipping of jobs overseas added to the effects of zero interest rates in increasing poverty and deprivation in the US.

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The Raleign area in North Carolina near the location of 3 research oriented universities is rebounding quickly from the pandemic. It is now No. 3 in WSJ's annual survey of US labor markets with big gains in wags and jobs. This report in WSJ looks at how this was done with business, communities and local government working together.

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The VW emissions scandal lingers on five years after the rigging of of millions of diesel vehicles to cheat emissions tests. Now former CEO Martin Winterkorn is ordered to face trial on charges of defrauding customers. It is interesting to note how it all started was a grandiose ambition set by Winterkorn according to this report in the WSJ, to make VW the largest auto company in the world ahead of Toyota and General Motors and push sales of diesel vehicles in the U.S. with "clean diesel vehicles." At this time of pandemic it is appropriate to note that the world has changed since 1946 when the wages of top managers were 2 times that of a Caterpillar company worker, and reached level of 400 times a worker for some executives of companies before the pandemic.  Even in supposedly egalitarian countries where worker representatives are on boards such as Germany, the wages had pushed way upwards to about 170 times the salary of the average worker at VW in 2015 when the emissions crisis erupted. This VW episode shows that the grandiose ambitions of executives were another part of the problem before the pandemic. Today the VW disaster has led to a completely opposite result. Diesel is not taking over the U.S. it is now the now the no go in Germany, as diesel vehicles are being phased out. Instead Germany's auto industry is now making large investments in the electric car industry. Significantly chancellor Merkel and the CDU no longer see the automobile industry in Germany as having some kind of special status and the shift to electric is being made with the planned loss of jobs and a restructuring to replace lost jobs with other jobs over 10 years. And the SPD has called for a legal ratio of the average ratio of a company's top managers  in relation to a workers wage at the same company. The pandemic has put things in perspective on a number of fronts, from wage relationships, health, healthcare and wellbeing, healthy lifestyles, mental health, making clear that health and a commonsense idea of fairness, good infrastructure, and sensible wage relations all go together in this world that the creator made. ...

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Trade in services is not enough. Services won't build ships for the US Navy. Services don't provide jobs for factory workers. Trade in services won't rebuild the US manufacturing base. It won't rebuild the middle class. Trade in services won't make pharmaceuticals Made in America that are available always, including in times of war, pandemics and disruptions. Bottom line as DJT pointed out in a Cabinet meeting on April 10 is that the US could no longer be a world power without its industrial base, it's manufacturing base. Americans companies doing the outshoring are really the targets of the Tariffs because they are at the heart of the mechanisms causing the destruction of the industrial and manufacturing base of America, vital for it's security and for it's leadership of the free world and western civilization. It started with Apple in 1998 and I witnessed this as a consultant seeing the production line at the Apple Colorado Springs plant in 1997 with rework and defective product before Steve Jobs returned to Apple. By 1998 Apple started shipping it's entire production base to China. DJT told the Cabinet meeting on April 10, 2025, all previous presidents had to tell companies firing all their workers and outshoring their machines was- "there will be a tariff of 50 or 100% on your products imported into the US."  And these companies would never have fired all their workers and sent their factories to China or some other country. Economists and experts who have turned their backs on American workers see the $1 trillion deficit countries have with China and the loss of their industrial and manufcturing base with one excuse or another. Trade in Services in which the USA has an advantage does not do much for American workers, or for the 5 million manufacturing jobs lost and tens of thousands of factories that have been outshored.  National Security and Jobs, the Middle Class, factory communities across all 51 states are all at stake. ...

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As the US and EU find other ways to act on cost of living action to reduce the impact of higher oil and gas prices, curb pharmacy and health costs, and grocery bills, tackle housing costs, the role that lower retail prices of goods from China play a diminished role. More important are jobs and wages in this economic structure and perceptions are being followed and shaped by policy of Biden, Scholz and other leaders of Democratic and Socialist parties. Biden and Yellen have raised the alarm over China's export based manufacturing strategies being revived one more time, there is also a new perception of the advantage of such lower retail goods from China coming at the expense of jobs and wages, loss of manufacturing technologies as in chips in the US, which is seen as clearly unacceptable. WSJ shows that recent data shows that this strategy in China is not delivering the growth China expected. The diversification of supply chain to India and Vietnam is also a response to earlier concentration of supply chain in China. ...

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With the strong jobs growth report in September the US Federal Reserve, America's central bank, is expected to increase interest rates by 0.75% at its meeting on Nov. 1-2. That will be the fourth interest rate increase in 4 consecutive meetings of the Fed. It is designed to tackle inflation yet it also reverses the period of low interest rates for savers that extended from 2000 to 2020. This period covered two crises one created by irresponsible behaviour of banks in the financial crisis of 2000 and the second a natural health disaster from the pandemic when interest rates were brought down to zero as a policy response. During that period savers who suffered decline in savings with little interest income and lower income groups were hit by both the financial crises, employment gaps that hurt income and savings, and the shift of jobs overseas as jobs were shifted to China and American manufacturing declined. Economic policy was determined in that period by economists who failed to grasp the dangers to American manufacturing, to American communities with loss of jobs from offshoring, rising inequality that fragmented society.   This has changed under the Fed run by Mr. Powell first appointed by Mr. Trump and now renominated by Mr. Trump, who is not an economist and brings a very different mindset to central banking, going with common sense about what works for average Americans. a sense of humility, and down to earth about American workers and American manufacturing and its place in America. ...

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Mortimer Zuckerman, publisher of U.S. News and World Report, looks behind the unemployment numbers and points to U-6 the real measure of under utilized labor and of workers working part time because of a lack of full time work, and says this is at about 15%. Add the eight million who quit looking and it is 19%, says Zuckerman The unemployment rate of 8.1% does not reflect the eight million workers who have quit looking. The long term unemployed, workers unemployed for more than 27 weeks is at 40.7%, or 5.2 million workers. Fewer Americans work today than in 2000, even though the population has increased by 31 million. Only 96,000 jobs were generated in August 2012. Something is seriously wrong and the right steps have not been taken.

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Seattle is now the first U.S. city experiencing what it is like in a lockdown with streets empty. Seattle metro area is a city of 4 million with growing economy - at 6.9% growth, and 50% increase in jobs since 2010. New rules in Washington state are to wash your hands leaving the house and re-entering, no one going to anyone else's house. 

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The U.S. economy generated 280,000 jobs in May 2015, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate increased slightly to 5.5% as more Americans were looking for jobs. This report suggests the weak 1st quarter jobs numbers are a temporary situation from the severe winter.

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BBC environmental correspondent points out that the climate change executive order from U.S. president Trump reversing Obama's clean energy policies is designed to change the narrative to job creation. This follows approval for building the Keystone pipeline from Canada to bring oil from oil sands production to the U.S. The pipeline was also presented as a job creation effort. Environmental groups oppose the president's action. Court action and challenges are seen as helping Republican policy of delaying implementation of Clean Power Plan policy setup to control carbon dioxide emissions under the Obama administration.