"Supporting Maine’s Manufacturing Sector"
Manufacturers throughout Maine and the nation recently took part in National Manufacturing Day, an occasion that brought manufacturers together in an effort to address common challenges, highlight the importance of the manufacturing sector to our economy, and demonstrate the promising opportunities it offers. From forest products and composite materials to shipbuilding and footwear, Maine’s manufacturing sector today spans multiple industries, realizes more than $5.5 billion in gross domestic product, and employs more than 50,000 Mainers.
While manufacturing jobs have long provided quality employment for generations of Americans, we have seen a decline in manufacturing jobs in Maine and across the nation over the past several decades. In fact, sixty years ago, employment in the manufacturing industry accounted for 43 percent of Maine’s nonfarm jobs; in 2011, manufacturing accounted for just 8.5 percent of these jobs. Yet this industry is crucial to our nation and economy, and one that we must support.
The many challenges that the manufacturing sector faces today are significant and complex, but they are not insurmountable. Indeed, with smart investments in workforce development and policies that spur innovation and enable domestic manufacturers to remain competitive against global competition, the manufacturing sector can be an even more valuable asset to our economy.
Manufacturers require skilled employees. Maine workers must have access to workforce development and job training programs that help them refine their skills and secure good-paying jobs. Today, despite our nation’s unemployment rate hovering above seven percent, job openings in high-growth industries in the manufacturing sector remain unfilled.
Federal and state job training programs should provide the education needed for our citizens to become the mechanics, engineers, machinists, ship-builders and designers, industrial managers, and other skilled workers needed by manufacturers. It is important that Maine companies work with local universities and community colleges to develop manufacturing-based curriculum and job training programs. This training creates a win-win situation: Mainers will have the training they need for these good jobs, and employers will have access to the highly skilled workforce they need for their businesses to grow and thrive.
To support this important effort, I introduced the “Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success (SECTORS) Act” with Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. This bipartisan bill addresses the disparity between high unemployment rates and a shortage of skilled workers for many emerging industries at the regional level. By providing competitive grants for partnerships that include institutions of higher education, industry, organized labor, and workforce boards, this legislation aims to foster an environment that builds customized solutions for specific industries. The SECTORS Act would help align America’s workforce with the needs of our nation’s employers to promote a robust and growing economy.
Encouraging manufacturers to continue to create jobs here in America is also critical to our economic future. Right now, we have an opportunity to increase American footwear manufacturing jobs at no cost to the federal government simply by directing the Department of Defense to buy American-made athletic footwear, just as it does for other footwear, such as combat boots, service shoes, and other uniform items for our troops.
That is why I have authored legislation that will ensure that athletic footwear falls under the “Berry Amendment” the same way as combat boots and service shoes. This bill would create domestic jobs for American companies like New Balance, which employs approximately 900 Mainers, and is the only company that still manufactures athletic shoes in the United States. Keeping domestic footwear manufacturers in Maine can help create new American manufacturing jobs for many years to come. American workers can meet the footwear requirements of nearly all our service members if they are simply given the opportunity.
Innovation is also critical to the long-term prosperity of the manufacturing sector. Maine right now is at the cutting edge of deepwater, offshore wind energy technology. Aided by federal support and seed funding that I helped secure, the University of Maine, in concert with academic and industry partners, including manufacturing firms, has developed and launched a prototype floating wind turbine that has the potential to position Maine as a leader in the global race to develop deepwater offshore wind technology.
This emerging industry has the potential to create as many as 20,000 new jobs in Maine, including good paying manufacturing jobs. I am confident that Maine can make deepwater offshore wind a hallmark of U.S. innovation, and I will continue to work on initiatives that support this endeavor, including Department of Energy offshore wind grants and tax incentives for offshore wind.
The economic challenges that face the manufacturing sector demand our attention. They did not start yesterday, and they will not be resolved tomorrow, but we can make progress now. Through these and other initiatives, we can help to strengthen American manufacturers, to preserve our manufacturing capacity, and most of all, to help ensure that hard-working Americans have the jobs they need and deserve.
