Lisa Simpson
Feb 12,2010
In: Finance

Survey Conducted on Manufacturers Regarding Impact of Recession Producing Mixed Conclusions

Survey conducted on manufacturers regarding impact of recession producing mixed conclusions.

A survey was conducted on 150 manufacturing units. It was sponsored by Advanced Technology Services. The findings suggest that the big manufacturers appear to have come out the best –29% of those with employees hovering around 1,000 did not refer to any sort of impact. Only 19% of these said the impact had been either bad or extremely bad. There is sharp difference of opinion about whether there will be a shortage of skilled hands or not. Regarding filling up of permanent posts now running vacant some say these will be filled up as soon as the economy revives but others say they will resort to outsourcing and or short term contractual workers.

The president of ATS Jeff Owens said, “I believe there are two reasons for these varying viewpoints. First, I believe the recession has caused many companies to be shortsighted and look at the numbers and potential problems for next quarter instead of next year and five years down the road — and that’s when these Baby Boomers will be retiring and taking all their knowledge and experience with them. Second, manufacturers have repeatedly failed to make the case for the skilled labor shortage and now we are paying the price. There is a difference between low-skilled jobs that are easily transported to low-wage countries, and the high-skilled jobs that do — and will — remain. These are the elite technicians who are skilled in hydraulics, robotics, electrical and computer science. Even if the economic recovery is slow the emptying of the pipeline won’t be.”

Many of the manufacturers feel that this calls for bigger public policy matters that should be addressed on a national scale. 69% of the respondents of the survey felt that the Obama government should initiate such policies that would add as incentives to encourage and develop skill in the form of training and educating.

While the manufacturers are peering into the future in their attempts to weather the storm there are mixed views about when the real economy would recover. 36% felt that the growth would start from the first or latest the 2nd quarter of 2010. 23% think that the growth would come later in this year – in the 3rd or 4th quarters. A quarter feels that it will not come prior to 2011 or may be even later.

The big and small manufacturers do not agree about what is the future of manufacturing in USA. A third of the smaller group says that they are not hopeful of any demand growth this year but it will pick up from the following year of 2011. The bigger firms think that already there are signs of growth and are hopeful of positive developments in this year.