Stability in times of employment change

BY CAROL WINOGRAD

According to a Brookings Institute report, more than a third of the manufacturing jobs eliminated in the United States between 2000 and 2005 were taken from seven states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Michigan has been particularly hard hit. The American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition says Michigan has lost more than 315,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000, a 35.5 percent reduction.

Global markets are often cited as the reason for these declines, as jobs move overseas where a cheaper workforce is available. But robotics was the first indication that workforces would have to adapt. Many production lines around the world, especially in automotive companies, have replaced workers with automated assembly lines.

Real change is going on as jobs move from one country to the next, and as new business opportunities emerge. Sometimes job creation is slowed by instability and shifts in the global economy—such as the increasing cost of oil and gas, as well as the demand for more fuel-efficient cars. Or there's the huge expense of transporting raw materials, and funding military operations. There are many variables to consider when trying to sort out how to create new jobs and to maintain existing positions, but I've found three areas of focused prayer for genuine progress.