Dyke Messinger, a member of the National Association of Manufacturers’ board of directors, testified this week before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, a hearing, “State of the American Workforce.” Dyke is president and CEO of Power Curbers, Inc., a manufacturer of curbing machines. 

From his prepared testimony:

The United States is the world’s largest manufacturing economy, producing
21 percent of global manufactured products. U.S. manufacturing alone makes up 11.2 percent of our nation’s GDP. More importantly, manufacturing supports an estimated 18.6 million jobs in the U.S. – about one in six private-sector jobs. To put this in context, this is about the equivalent of the entire populations of the five largest cities in the U.S.: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix combined. Nearly 12 million Americans (or 9 percent of the workforce) are employed directly in manufacturing. Manufacturing jobs are high paying jobs, too. In 2009, the average U.S. manufacturing worker earned $74,447 annually, including pay and benefits – 22 percent more than the rest of the workforce.

But today’s manufacturers face many challenges to our global competitiveness and job creation efforts. Proposals that increase taxes and impose new regulations will make business in the United States less competitive. These proposals will stifle the already weak recovery and destroy manufacturers’ ability to create jobs. 

Dyke’s testimony drew on the NAM’s “Manufacturing Strategy for Jobs and a Competitive America.” 

Others testifying were: 

• Robert F. McDonnell, Governor of Virginia
• Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President, American Action Forum
• Heather Boushey, Senior economist, Center for American Progress

Coverage …

WHSV, “McDonnell Discusses Job Creation on Capitol Hill”

Examiner.com, “McDonnell gives top marks to Rep. Ryan’s SOTU response”

More on the recurring theme, a Chicago Tribune story, “A rebalancing act,” with the subhed, “U.S. firms sharpen focus on overseas consumers.”

WASHINGTON – — With American consumers cutting back in response to the recession, many U.S. companies increasingly are looking outward, toward fast-developing countries like China, India and Brazil.

But instead of seeing those countries primarily as cheap producers of goods, both American manufacturing firms and giant multinational corporations see them as potential customers for U.S. products and services. And it reflects what may be the beginning of a shift in the global economy, a rebalancing in which the world relies less on U.S. consumers and more on consumer spending in places such as China.

General Electric’s Jeff Immelt is a leading advocate of making exports a larger part of the U.S. manufacturing economy, serving growing markets overseas. But it’s not just giants like GE that have a stake in the game.

Without their overseas customers, companies like Power Curbers Inc., a small construction-equipment maker in Salisbury, N.C., probably would have gone bankrupt in the recession.

“We’re fortunate that infrastructure development is going on in other countries,” said Dyke Messinger, Power Curbers’ president. He said 75 percent of his sales this year are international, compared with 25 percent two years ago.

Dyke is a director and member of the NAM’s Executive Committee.

News coverage and sundry from yesterday’s meeting with President Bush and the Coalition for Affordable American Energy.

National Association of Manufacturers news release, “NAM board member urges Bush to up energy supplies”

Environmental News Service, “Bush Meets with Coalition for Affordable American Energy”

Chamber of Commerce blog post, “Affordable America Energy”

And again, a report from the scene from the NAM’s Keith McCoy.

More….

• President Bush’s remarks
• Video of the President’s remarks
• News release, Associated Builders & Contractors
• RTT News Story, Bush Urges Pelosi To Reconvene Congress For Energy Vote