AMERICA
‘Made in the USA’
Outsourcing is not always the right answer for American manufacturers.
Nowadays the ‘USA’ label increasingly applies to the many things we buy.
PARADE PRONE Firms bringing work back to the U.S. couldn’t get Chinese workers to show up around holidays and celebrations.
By Clayton B. Reid
Duesterberg says. “The U.S. is doing recruiters to offer wage increases
A
SCARCE
LABEL IS MAKING A a good job of increasing productivity of up to 30 percent to attract talent,
comeback in your local big-box and keeping production costs under raising the cost to U.S. fi rms dealing
store: “Made in the U.S.A.” control.” with China.
The same companies that sent A survey of 500 of the top offshore In addition to the foreign workers’
thousands of American jobs over- companies found that 41,000 jobs demands, the so-called “insourcing”
seas to save a few bucks on labor returned to the U.S. between May trend is being driven by Western con-
are bringing the work home again 2007 and April 2008, according to cerns about Chinese and Indian envi-
in response to rising energy prices, the alliance. That’s roughly 14 percent ronmental practices and the increas-
global economic turmoil, and the of the jobs that had been shipped ing number of tainted products turn-
shoddy work of foreign factories. out. The National Association of ing up on American shelves.
“It is a trend, and it is grow- Manufacturers (NAM) found that 44 Chinese products accounted for
ing,” Thomas J. Duesterberg, presi- percent of North American compa- 65 percent of all the recalled products
dent and CEO of the Manufacturers nies plan to increase production in in the United States last year, accord-
Alliance, tells Newsmax. “It’s not a the U.S. in the coming three years. ing to the Consumer Product Safety
tsunami wave yet, but growth in the Anand Sharma, CEO of TBM Commission. Many were made as
trend will continue. Consulting Group, told CNN that a part of contracts with U.S. compa- GES
“Costs are going up in China, shortage of managerial and technical nies such as Hasbro, Graco, Mattel,
TY IMA
including labor and benefi t costs,” talent in China has forced Chinese and Fisher-Price that had shifted GET
24 NEWSMAX / DECEMBER 2008
0024_AM_Buy American.indd 2424_AM_Buy American.indd 24 111/7/08 5:29:53 PM1/7/08 5:29:53 PM
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