That number bounced around the blogosphere this week as CIT teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. CEO Jeff Peek told news outlets that 760 manufacturing companies could shut down if CIT collapses. And then comes the ripple effect, which is even scarier.
Posts Tagged ‘Wages’
Labor shortage – Point/Counterpoint
January 29th, 2009
By: Vicki Bell
By: Vicki Bell
If you subscribe to the "Welding Wire" e-newsletter, you may have seen the comments in the January issue from a seasoned metalworker who questions whether the much proclaimed skilled-labor shortage really exists. His comments drew responses from those who wholeheartedly agreed with what he had to say, along with feedback from others who brought up important points that some of the choir might not have considered.
E&E Metal Fab: Finding success and giving back
November 25th, 2008
By: Tim Heston
By: Tim Heston
As automotive execs, in delicious irony, flew luxury private jets to Washington to ask for billions of taxpayer money, I flew coach.
In the middle seat, mind you.
I landed Thursday in Philadelphia to tour E&E Metal Fab, a little more than an hour to the west in Lebanon, Pa. The company celebrated its fifth anniversay last week with an open house. E&E is by no means a giant of industry, but the company has an impressive track record. It started with nine employees; today it has 29. Sales have doubled every year, on track to hit $4.5 million this year. (It"s easier for a small firm to grow so rapidly, but the numbers are impressive all the same.) And employee turnover has been next to nothing. President William Willie Erb can count on his fingers how many employees left since the company launched in November 2003.
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Welding your way to a six-figure income?
October 29th, 2008
By: Vicki Bell
By: Vicki Bell
Last week's Welding Wire e-newsletter lead feature discussed a report by Chief White House correspondent for the CBS Evening News, Jim Axelrod, who recently was surprised to learn about a career that requires no college degree and pays six figures.
Axelrod reported that "thanks to a program run by WorkNet Pinellas in Tampa, Fla., hundreds of men and women, many with no more than a high school diploma, are training for jobs that practically guarantee a six figure salary within three-to-five years & it's as old-school as it gets."
Weathering the storm on Cape Ann
September 9th, 2008
By: Tim Heston
By: Tim Heston
The economy is looking like an intricate patchwork that"s still holding together, though with some seriously thread-bare areas. The housing and financial service sectors make up the brunt of those bare threads, while manufacturing continues to hold surprisingly strong, if you don"t include sectors like automotive and construction. Surprising everyone, factory orders increased 1.3 percent in July, much of it in support of the growing energy and agriculture sectors.
And though it"s really just a technicality, some are predicting the U.S. may not fall into an official recession, that is, two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
Of course, Bernard Savo probably doesn"t care about technicalities.
Cheap labor never stays cheap
April 14th, 2008
By: Tim Heston
By: Tim Heston
Labor costs continue to rise. Companies feel the pinch of surging raw material prices. Margins are declining. Companies can"t find the labor they need, and manufacturers strive to cut costs and keep work on their shores. This sounds like the problems manufacturers face stateside, but it"s not.
It"s in China.
Relo or no?
April 9th, 2008
By: Vicki Bell
By: Vicki Bell
Last week's Welding Wire e-newsletter addressed the skilled welder shortage and asked subscribers to e-mail us any welding programs they were aware of in their areas. Thefabricator.com is interested in compiling a list of programs that can be used by both those interested in welding careers and employers looking for skilled welders. Several subscribers responded with program information, and we hope to obtain more over the coming weeks.
This post isn"t about those programs. It's inspired by another response we received that addressed the dichotomy of the labor situation: Employers can't find skilled labor; skilled laborers can't find jobs. What's keeping them apart?
Cheap labor—It's all relative
March 6th, 2008
By: Vicki Bell
By: Vicki Bell
Toronto, Canada's star.com reported March 5 that Ontario lost more than 77,000 manufacturing jobs from 2001 to 2006, according to the latest employment trends report from Statistics Canada. Labor market experts believe that trend is likely to stretch well into 2008 and beyond. Quebec lost 56,600 in the same time period.
Among the reasons cited for the losses was the disparity between Canadian labor costs and those in other countries, including the U.S.
Just pay the people
January 25th, 2008
By: Dan Davis
By: Dan Davis
Nuthin" like a shot upside the head to make you see the light.
In this blog and in the Editor"s Corner of The FABRICATOR [ Saving manufacturing one sweep at a time, p. 8, January 2008], I"ve written how a clean work environment might contribute in a small way to changing a youngster"s mindset about manufacturing. It doesn"t have to be dark and dirty, and maybe that might be enough to encourage someone to consider a career in the fabricating trades.
