3 ms·

> Why are manufacturing jobs special? Because you need manufacturing to win wars, or to be seen by outside great powers that you're in a position of winning wa

> Why are manufacturing jobs special? Because you need manufacturing to win wars, or to be seen by outside great powers that you're in a position of winning wars. You're not winning wars based on git commit messages, but based on the steel any one country is able to produce at a certain moment in time (and to transform it into tanks/armoured vehicles and artillery shells).

megaman821 2y ago
That is manufacturing capacity, not jobs. A factory of ten people and a few hundred robots is fine. Other types of manufacturing like chips, aerospace and medical equipment are high value and low workforce. Tariffs and industrial policy may increase the US' manufacturing capacity, but don't expect to see many manufacturing jobs from it.
- sgnelson 2y ago
  aerospace in the US is very much NOT low workforce. It's quite the opposite. One of the highest employers of "traditional" manufacturing in some ways. I think you also underestimate how many employees are required for medical equipment manufacturing as well.
- paganel 2y ago
  > A factory of ten people and a few hundred robots is fine Don't think that that is true when it comes to the steel industry when you include all the verticals, i.e. mineral extraction + transportation of said minerals + energy production + transportation of said energy. You need qualified people for that, lots of them. And I've yet to see the steel factory that can be run with only 10, 25 or even 100 people.
  - megaman821 2y ago
    Yes, 10 people is a gross exaggeration, but manufacturing output has remained the same while manufacturing employment has fallen over the last few decades. Advanced robotics will continue the trend even if policy pushes manufacturing output up. There is no realistic way to drastically increase manufacturing employment.

3 ms·

> Why are manufacturing jobs special? Because you need manufacturing to win wars, or to be seen by outside great powers that you're in a position of winning wa

by paganel 2y ago

megaman821 2y ago
That is manufacturing capacity, not jobs. A factory of ten people and a few hundred robots is fine. Other types of manufacturing like chips, aerospace and medical equipment are high value and low workforce. Tariffs and industrial policy may increase the US' manufacturing capacity, but don't expect to see many manufacturing jobs from it.
- sgnelson 2y ago
  aerospace in the US is very much NOT low workforce. It's quite the opposite. One of the highest employers of "traditional" manufacturing in some ways. I think you also underestimate how many employees are required for medical equipment manufacturing as well.
- paganel 2y ago
  > A factory of ten people and a few hundred robots is fine Don't think that that is true when it comes to the steel industry when you include all the verticals, i.e. mineral extraction + transportation of said minerals + energy production + transportation of said energy. You need qualified people for that, lots of them. And I've yet to see the steel factory that can be run with only 10, 25 or even 100 people.
  - megaman821 2y ago
    Yes, 10 people is a gross exaggeration, but manufacturing output has remained the same while manufacturing employment has fallen over the last few decades. Advanced robotics will continue the trend even if policy pushes manufacturing output up. There is no realistic way to drastically increase manufacturing employment.