Podcast: Bring it Home – How the US and Mexico Share Common Ground on Manufacturing
Low-cost Mexican labor is a big threat to American manufacturing jobs, right? One advocate of the US reshoringmovement doesn’t think it’s that straightforward. In some cases, Mexico is a better fit for some re/nearshored manufacturing jobs.
“The US is unambiguously better off with work coming back from Asia to Mexico than it is with the work staying in Asia,” Harry Moser, The Reshoring Initiative
Harry Moser, founder and president of The Reshoring Initiative, explores the following in this interview with Entrada’s Doug Donahue:
- The number of American companies that have reshored to the US over the past 5 years and the regions they are choosing for relocation
- The skills shortage in American manufacturing, is it real or imagined?
- The effects of American reshoring compared to ten years ago, when the US lost 150,000 jobs per year
- Whether Mexico is a friend or foe to American production
- How nearshoring to Mexico could benefit American manufacturing companies
- Some resources for American companies contemplating reshoring
- Which manufacturing skill sets are being utilized in Mexico compared to the U.S.
- The recent trend of European countries setting up their manufacturing operations in North America because of the increased costs in Asia
- Why regional production has had a bigger effect on American manufacturing than low-cost Mexican labor
In the audio, Moser reveals how the skills shortage in American manufacturing is an impediment to future growth. “There’s some shortage in engineers, scientists, mathematicians, people like that. But there are also severe shortages in toolmakers, precision machinists, welders, etc. The various surveys show anywhere from 300,000 to 600,000 openings in manufacturing. [These are] job openings not filled because companies can’t find the people and a lot of it’s due to the skill shortage.”