The Resurgence of Manufacturing

The President knows that America’s middle class was built on the strength of our small businesses and our manufacturing sector. But for too long, middle class security had been slipping away for too many families. Long before the worst recession since the Great Depression, folks saw the cost of living go up, while their wages remained stagnant, making it harder to make ends meet – especially for families in the manufacturing sector. And when President Obama took office, we faced the worst recession since the Great Depression, and the entire communities were devastated. 

We’ve faced tough times, but the American people are tougher. And the President stood with the workers across the nation as they rebuilt their communities. Now, the manufacturing sector has added 504,000 jobs since January 2010 – the first period of sustained job growth since the 1990s. While there’s more work to be done, we continue to make progress. 

In fact, just this week we saw some good news at an Alcoa Davenport Works Factory in Iowa. They just announced a new agreement with Airbus to manufacture the aluminum sheets for the new Airbus A-305’s. We’re pleased that they came to this agreement.  It’s good for business, good for the economy. More importantly, it’ll create jobs, strengthen communities, and continue to restore the economic security for thousands of middle class families.

We’ll continue to do everything we can to encourage the insourcing trend and bring jobs back to the United States. That is why he has put forward a range of policies including a framework to reform the corporate tax system to cut the tax rate for producing in America while ending tax incentives to produce overseas, a set of ideas to promote innovation and growth like Manufacturing Innovation Institutes, and an emphasis on the skills that workers will need for the jobs of the future. Most immediately, he is calling on Congress to pass legislation that gives companies moving operations back to the United States a 20 percent tax credit for moving expenses and pay for it by no longer allowing deductions for expenses associated with moving operations overseas. It’s time for Congress to get to work on behalf of the American people.

Jason Furman is Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and the Principal Deputy Director of the National Economic Council.