WCA July 2010

in the period 2007-2009, accounting for just 1.5% of such facilities nationwide. A statistic that may inspire change is this: according to the EDD manufacturing jobs pay up to $65,000 a year, at least one-third higher than service- sector jobs. “The [Nummi] site should remain a manufacturing ❖ facility if we want good-paying jobs,” said Rep Pete Stark, of Fremont, who was instrumental in obtaining a $330,000 federal grant for the city to explore the options. “There’s a skilled workforce in place, and I’m hoping the site becomes a hub for green jobs and innovative companies.” Mr Ross observed that the Nummi property might be attractive to companies on the other side of the Pacific. In fact, he wrote on 18 th April, “A delegation of Bay Area officials is in China [now], meeting with manufacturers – primarily car makers, I’m told – to gauge their interest in the site.”

“We’re on the same page,” Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials Inc (Sunnyvale) a fast-growing energy efficiency company, told Mr Ross. “The United States must bring manufacturing and exports back, or we don’t pay our debts. We need to make things again.” Mr Ross would like to see that initiative commence immediately, while the US is still the world’s largest manufacturer. He noted that the nation’s 21% share of the industrial sector represents half of what it was at the end of World War II, and accounts for only 11% of gross domestic product. China, with 17% of global manufacturing (representing 40% of GDP) is closing the gap. If the US is serious about an export-led rebalancing of its economy, the Chronicle columnist wrote, “We may need to rely less on financial services, which account for 20% of GDP, and more on actual goods we can sell.” “The Bottom Line” marshalled some dispiriting statistics ❖ about California. Over the nine years through 2009 the state lost 634,000 manufacturing jobs (for a 34% decline), more than half of these in the past five years. Figures from the state’s Employment Development Department (EDD) indicate that, between 2001 and 2007, the Bay Area lost 31% of its 492,000 manufacturing jobs. In terms of new or expanded plants, the real estate and economic development magazine Site Selection ranked California last among the nation’s most populous states

Automotive

64% of Americans who currently own a Toyota say they ❖ are at least somewhat likely to buy their next car from the troubled Japanese auto maker, including 40% who say they are very likely to do so. These results, published 12 th April by the public-opinion pollster Rasmussen Reports, found slightly less loyalty among those who

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Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2010