Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 60

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United Kingdom

United States

Sweden

Japan

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France

Canada

Australia

Italy

Germany

overseas, mostly to East Asian countries. Subsequently, these countries surged ahead of
the United States in the race to develop vehicles with rechargeable batteries.59 Thin-film
solar cells used in making solar panels rely on semiconductor production. U.S. firms
moved much of their semiconductor production to Asia, and the United States has fallen
behind in the rapidly developing solar industry. 60
The United States needs to scale up its investments in strengthening domestic manufacturing capacity or risk losing
more jobs in the industries of
Figure 1.7 Percent Change in Manufacturing Jobs in Select
the future. Other high-income

Countries, Adjusted for Population Growth, 1997-2010
countries, such as Germany and
Japan, have lost low-skill manufacturing jobs (see Figure 1.7),
but unlike the United States,
they are aggressively trying to
0%
prevent the loss of high-skill
-5%
manufacturing jobs.61 They do
-10%
this through industrial policies
-15%
-20%
designed to build the capacity
-25%
of their manufacturing workers
-30%
to compete in international mar-35%
-40%
kets. As a result, Germany and
-45%
Japan have actually increased
-50%
their number of high-skill manufacturing jobs.62 The U.S. Bureau
Source: Robert D. Atkinson, Luke A. Stewart, Scott M. Andes, and Stephen J. Ezell (March
2012), Worse Than the Great Depression: What Experts Are Missing About American Manufacof Labor Statistics collects data
turing Decline, The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation.
on manufacturing employment
in 10 peer countries. Between
2000 and 2010, six of the 10 paid higher wages than the United States and yet still lost a
smaller share of manufacturing jobs.63
The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is a successful, low-cost program
designed to assist manufacturers in becoming more competi“The United States
tive in international markets. MEP funding levels are tiny:
needs to scale up
64 In comparison, Japan spends
0.0014 percent of U.S. GDP.
its investments in
23 times more on a similar program. “If U.S. spending on the
strengthening domestic
MEP program were to rise to the Japanese level,” explains
manufacturing capacity
the Economic Policy Institute, “it would require a budget
or risk losing more jobs
allocation of approximately $5 billion per year, not large
in the industries of
in the context of overall government spending, but a huge,
the future.”
roughly 40-fold increase of the program.”65 To compete on an
even playing field with Germany, total funding would have to rise to $10 billion per year.66
One way to raise the funds needed to help U.S. high-skill manufacturing compete is
to stop rewarding companies that move production overseas. Through a variety of loop-