80% of Americans scream, ‘Bring back manufacturing jobs!’ But ask them to actually work in a factory? Suddenly, only 20% are interested...
Because most Americans are dumb and most American boomers are even dumber. "Bringing back manufacturing" is not a thing they have ever dedicated a modicum of thought to. If they have it's probably "factory work manly, service work gay" or whatever. There is no thought about industrial policy or even an assesment of the current industrial landscape.
For instance where I live there are basically nonstop free or even paid courses to train and place people in industrial trades so that they can work in manufacturing or construction. These jobs cannot find enough employees. i honestly don't know why more people don't do it. My only guess is that these jobs are quite brutal and require a ton of OT compared to making 60k a year in an office/wfh working ten hours a week.
The boomers up here still say "bring back manufacturing though" as if it means anything.
People don't miss manufacturing jobs, they miss high wages. We associate American manufacturing with high wages, so the idea that bringing back manufacturing would bring back high wages is a kind of cargo cult notion - but of course we all know that it was high unionization that drove high wages, high progressive taxes that built all the infrastructure in this fukken country, and high imperialism that made it all possible.
This exactly. What they want is the benefits of organized labor and central planning, but that’s communism, so they’re forced to focus on the jobs themselves. It’s really stupid when you think about it even a little.
I feel like the average American’s perception of line work is Laverne and Shirley lol. Kinda like when my parents would talk about how bagging groceries looked more fun than their office jobs - not wrong, but they perceive it that way because they don’t treat people like shit, most people (management or customers) treat the grocery bagger like shit, so it really takes the shine off. But yeah I think it depends on how separated one is from doing actual labor. Like I really like landscaping and construction, and think we should have those jobs, but my body still hurts from when I had to drag my carcass to them daily. Same with much of my family as we’ve made the shift over generations from farmers>coal miners>mechanics>machinists>engineers. AND THEY WERE ALL EXTREMELY PRO-UNION. People don’t miss manual labor, they maybe miss some romanticized notion of “8-hrs hard days work, for 8-hrs hard days pay”, but guess what fucko, people stopped militantly organizing and now it’s “12-hrs hard days work, for “6-hrs hard days pay- oh and we need you in on Saturday”. Anyway my carpal tunnel is flaring up so I should wrap up this tangent.
🐷 "No-one wants to work anymore"
I've done warehouse work and I'd never want to do it over in the US. I assume it's the same for manufacturing. It's not a hypocritical position, the problem is that manufacturing jobs are especially hellish in the reactionary regime than regular union-struggled liberalism. Like, pretty sure I'd get cancer from them, judging from the US chem workers I've talked to.
That said, there are probably plenty of "Not In My Career Path" jerks in there too who want children and immigrants to do it.
I have worked in a warehouse in the US and i was being sent into a small unventilated building that was being treated with aerosol bug sprays which are a neurotoxin. I found this out after i began to develop persistent migraines. I quit, and reported the company and nothing was done about it.
Reminds me of a previous job where a manager subverted the normal acquisition process to buy paint which had formaldehyde in it, and it was illegal to even have it on premises.
He just got shifted to a different department and no real punishment was metted out for poisoning my colleagues.
Exactly, if we had regulations and worker protections that would be one thing but I'm not getting cancer for a job
A relative worked a union factory job with the UAW. He had a house, a farm, three cars, a small plane, and a 40 year retirement. That was only working as a draftsman, not a full engineer or any other kind of prestige position. I'd totally make that deal with the devil to ensure I could do the things I care about.
The charitable reading of this is that 55% of Americans want to bring back manufacturing for the benefit of other people who might benefit, even though they don't believe they need such a job themselves.
Americans have done absolutely nothing to earn a charitable reading.
I think proles know deep down somewhere subconsciously that there was more bargaining power and a stronger position for their class when manufacturing and heavy industry was domestic. They know at some sort of level that globalisation and offshoring of this harmed them, they can't articulate why precisely but they know that it was better with it than it has been without it.
My theory is they think they'll become managers of these factories or some management position while immigrants or young people toil.
or prisoners (slaves)
literally the liberal dream writ large
remember spez's "when push comes to shove" in the famous doomsday prepper article?
the yankoid brain is incapable of wishing for a future greater than being an untouchable PMC slavedriver that exploits others. a better world should only be for you
I think they just say bringing factories onshore would be good because the news said they should say that. 12 years of shitty education that trains them to say back what the teacher said last week, a lifetime of people on TV telling them what to think, of course that's what they say.
Not even that, they just think it'll improve their job/life situation in some really abstract way.
They don’t even think about it that much, they just think more factories means cheaper items
Same chart: Americans who want to go to war with insert country here and Americans who actually want to enlist for said war.
on 2nd thought, even less would want to enlist.
Ironically a lot of them already do have harder, longer, more stressful and more dangerous jobs in various hustle gigs than they would have even in XX century factory not to mention modern one.
Then again, i might be overestimating the safety standards in the USA, i wouldn't be surprised if what counts as "modern" factory in US was some XIX century industrial hell with open pools of toxic shit, machinery maiming people regularly and no protective gear.
Carcinogenic chemicals everywhere, extremely old faulty equipment, I've been there. It's pretty bad here.
People just want to be paid better and not give all their fucking money up to cost of living but they think they need factory union jobs for that when really they just need to start following luigi's example
Example of what? Man’s innocent until proven guilty.
Example of good fashion sense and having good interpersonal relationships
i'm not sure how getting arrested for a heroic deed done by someone who doesn't look like me in another state helps us get better wages and no rent
I think if you start whacking CEOs left and right due to said rent and wages it kind of affects their whole willingness to give more concession to the working class
See: literally any time in history the working class has gotten anything, ever
but yeah don't get arrested for it
i love working in factories tbh... much rather do that than work behind a computer at a desk all day. They just don't pay shit or have any benefits in comparison.
What is your specific role and responsibility? Big range of factory jobs
From the same poll, 2% of Americans polled actually work in a factory
And I suspect they don't want to work in manufacturing.
Some is good, some is bad, depends on the pay and the hours you have to work. If you can listen to podcasts or music, your retention rate triples, it is mostly the monotony that gets to people.
man factories are fucking awesome. skill issue
I wouldn't really consider this inconsistent? 80% agree more manufacturing jobs is a good thing, and 25% of people are willing to work those jobs. I think the 80% (or 55% excluding overlap) would be happy with a 25% increase in more than doubling the manufacturing industry.
Well, "happy". I imagine most would still be upset with increased prices or whatever.
If 25% of americans worked in a factory, this would be a WAY bigger increase in manufacturing than 25%
You're right, did not think that through.
For 20 years I've waited the promised robots, automation, AI and battery revolution to make all human work unnecessary. When it will finally happen?
They want children to do it
*Brown children
Not an actual factory, but I've largely enjoyed my time in and around a metal workshop :( As someone who grew up in an academic/desk job family, I don't really see the lack of appeal other than the judgement of other white collar people. Compared to kitchen work and gig work, anyway.
I don't really see the lack of appeal other than the judgement of other white collar people
Money... My parents were both factory workers and I'm a white collar worker. I made more as an intern when I was 19 than they both did together at the peak of their career
They retired with only 100k in the bank in the UK after working an entire lifetime
If it was safe and well paid I’d love to work in a factory. Big machines are so cool. But maybe I’m romanticising it a bit.
I do think that with good working conditions almost any job can be tolerable.
It can still be pretty dangerous in a modern setting, like a medium sized lathe can eat you. But the most dangerous things are complacency and being rushed, given the work that needs doing.
20% of the country is a lot. The problem isn't bringing back manufacturing, the problem is the way they're doing it. Blanket tariffs are the stupidest possible way, and really you just need central planning. Also even if manufacturing returns it's just gonna be done with robots anyway, Trump has never cared about workers why start now.
Exactly, central planning would be the way to do it, but at the very least if they were serious they'd couple tariffs with capital controls.
20% seems like a lot though to be fair. But manufacturing isnt the kind of job you can just walk into and start the same day - you need training!
I mean… if we want to not be reliant on other countries that we tend to piss off or can be as flippant as us… then yeah… we should start diversifying. It would also be good to have more low barrier to entry jobs. Granted I also think humans should be paid enough to live, and I doubt that would be the case here, but that’s a different discussion. That doesn’t mean I should leave my job as a teacher to go work in the manufacturing plants personally. I can think we need something as a country without having to be the person who does it, or even benefits from it.
Also… do we think we need 100% of the country to do one specific job for it to be important? Like I don’t wanna be a fucking janitor but we need someone to clean up shit. I don’t wanna be a doctor but like… I mean hopefully SOMEONE does…
Like, I don’t think manufacturing is coming here, but not because ONLY 20% of America would do that job. That’s… still so many fucking people dude.
It's because those 20% are kidding themselves. There are still plenty of jobs in manufacturing, it's just that they are third-shift grinds for the first couple of years before you can move towards a first or second shift position, more and more of it is done by robots which means it can be extremely monotonous, you have to move to more rural (usually about 20 minutes away from a major city) areas in the Midwest or South, and the pay isn't anywhere close to what it was even in the 90's.