HT: Newsalert
Update: "Exports at BMW’s Spartanburg plant have jumped 80% since
2009, as the German automaker tapped new markets in China, India and
South America to offset lagging sales during the recent recession. The
plant produced a record 276,000 cars in 2011 — BMW X3s, X5s, X6s — and
exported 70% of them, or 192,000. It sold the popular SUVs to 130
countries throughout the world.
BMW exports from South Carolina jumped 52% in 2011, surpassing
Michigan for the No. 1 spot among automobile exporters. South Carolina
previously ranked first in auto exports in 2009. The state also
ranked first among U.S. states in tire exports, holding nearly 30% of the share of U.S.-made exported tires. Michelin and
Bridgestone have been stalwart manufacturers in the state for years and
have announced expansions and Continental is building a new plant in
Sumter County."
HT: Jon Murphy
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteSomething similar is going on in South Carolina.
I do take exception that the measure of success for manufacturing is its employment rather than output, but that's a discussion for another day.
Jon Murphy: "I do take exception that the measure of success for manufacturing is its employment"
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that for BMW, Michelin, and Bridgestone, the measure of success is the profitability of their operations in SC. But that measure is probably not so important for the political leaders who sold the companies and the taxpayers on Greenville-Spartenburg, and for most of the residents in that area. I would guess that for them, jobs was the goal all along.
I've never embraced the concept of profit-seeking corporations adopting the goals of all "stakeholders". But I do concede that different parties do have different goals.
SC still has a not-so-wonderful unemployment rate but better than 09/10
ReplyDeletehttp://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LASST45000003
Make, ya'll, make.
ReplyDeleteThat's strange, the unemployment rate for a state like Ohio is lower than the unemployment rate for Georgia.
ReplyDeleteFor all those foreign-manufacturer factories, they're not even American until they're willing to step into the Manufacturing Belt up north.
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How about applying their backwards RTW law more consistently - so that any form of contingent labor or less-than-FT labor counts as a labor union under that law. Choice all around(where you can choose to be represented by the company directly/full-benefit, as a contractor, or by a labor union - without any penalty for any choice) and nobody has any weapons to screw around the other party.
The only problem with such a law is that businesses couldn't screw over workers with indirect labor.
ReplyDeleteI do take exception that the measure of success for manufacturing is its employment rather than output, but that's a discussion for another day.
Unemployed people make for some very angry folks at the voting booth, so jobs do matter more than you think.
Besides, I thought some state in the South said that "the best welfare program is a job".
Banking, Firing is Booming in The South
ReplyDeleteTit for tat.
American manufacturing jobs are still way down over the past decade. Many that are coming back are big on material content and little on labour. (shipping containers, boilers, large pipe assemblies, trusses, etc.) The fact that these are cheaper to make in the US shows how quickly developing countries have advanced in increasing labour compensation and standards of living.
ReplyDelete