Manufacturing is not highly valued in the US?

Quote from winniethepb

It's good money for people who don't have proper higher education degrees. I know many blue-collar workers making well over what some engineers make. But plant life is tough... Repetitive tasks in loud environments, frequent overtime, etc. I'm sure many operators hate the smell of lubricants.

Repetitive tasks are the least of it, usually.

The most frequent complaints I hear about are the loud noises and the working in shifts. At my factory they have to work in 4 shifts: the shift is 8 hours, one week it's the morning shift, the fallowing week there's the afternoon shift and then there's the next week with a night shift. The 4th shift is 12 hours on Saturday and Sunday, 2 weekends, with the Monday to Friday being considered free days, but many of them use the "free week" as a time for getting extra hours and money.

Quote from winniethepb

That sounds about right. In some companies, there is mandatory overtime. 6 days a week for 9+ hours a day.

This is a lot

I don't think it's legal in my country for people to work so many hours. Even our operators have their shifts from Monday to Friday and work on weekends only when it's the 4th shift.

I know there are some rules here that even if you work overtime, there's a limit to the number of hours per month that you can cross as an employee.

P.S. I searched it up now. There's a total of 160 hours/month usually for the employees (8 hours per 5 days * 4 weeks = 160 normal working hours as an average), but you even if you work overtime, you can't legally work more than 192 hours / month.

Quote from winniethepb

What is the overtime pay in your country/company? I know for my former company it is 1.5x for regular overtime and Sunday/Holiday overtime 2x.

I am not sure....People mostly talk in % around here. I know I've heard something about being paid 200% for the weekends (including Saturday) / holidays, which I would assume it means 2x as you said it.

Corporate America moving manufacturing overseas due to cheap labor and costs is part of the reason why disability and unemployment are rising. I see a lot of these people in my work and they are able to get only low skilled jobs but those jobs don't pay enough to live on. The US is heading towards a economic meltdown that will involve a lot of violence.

Quote from winniethepb

That is capitalism for you. In all seriousness, I don't think manufacturing overseas is the biggest issue but the integration of automation in the manufacturing process.

Let me give you this case:

Ultrafine polishing injection mold is an industry that hasn't incorporated automation yet due to it being intricate work. In that industry, there is a lack of talent because of younger generations not wanting to work in the field. So I'm currently working on a project to fix that problem. But it's projected, if the work is automated, the industry will be saturated with talent because automation will take away many jobs.

Even in a country like China, they are outsourcing a lot of their manufacturing to countries in the middle east and Africa. It's because as a nation develops, no one wants to do the tough labor. In turn, it'll lead to a lack of talent so the businesses need integration automation. Well, if they integrate automation... the robots take over human labor. Thus, there will be a lack of manufacturing jobs.

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My point is that by moving so many low skilled jobs that paid decently overseas, they left a lot of workers unemployed and unemployable. These workers needed those jobs because they can't get any other jobs. There are a lot of people who don't have the capability or motivation/circumstances to seek higher learning or training.

Quote from winniethepb

Do you follow Andrew Yang?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/q…-the-gap/?sh=7d70a9fe204b

If you don't, he's pretty spot on with this issue. I would look into it if you have time.

Yeah I agree with a lot of his points. He would be as good of a president as any but the US isn't ready.

Quote from Freddie235X

will be more than Covid relevant goods i think..

of course there are more things which are strategically important than just masks but it was just an example

Most Americans just want to be youtube "creators", instagram models or tiktok influencers. But once those countries that produce things embargoes the US they will be wondering where all their internet disappeared

Yes, because of the costs. The "AI-pocalypse" won't make it easier for humans and the management of companies probably won't "skill up" enough to offset job losses where manufacturing is still happening in the US.