If you’re old enough, you might recall a time shopping with your Mother or Father, them seeing something of interest, picking it up to inspect it, and if it didn’t clearly state on the label that it was “Made in the USA” they wouldn’t buy it.
As time went by, manufacturing began to take hold in China and soon the American consumer loved the price points they were getting on goods. It was not long though before the American consumer also realized that the age-old adage of “you get what you pay for” was true of these goods. American consumers would buy these products only to be forced to buy a replacement when the cheaply made product became broken or was rendered unusable. This can also be applied to the luxury sock market When you spend a few extra dollars on a quality pair of socks made here in the USA, they last longer, are of better quality, and support real American jobs. So, what does the landscape of manufacturing in the U.S. look like these days?
First, let’s take a look at manufacturing in the US by the numbers:
- Total output from manufacturing was $2,334.60 billion in 2018.
- There were an average of 12.8 million manufacturing employees in the United States in 2018.
- In 2019, Manufacturing output in the US reached an “all-time high”, signaling the industry’s strength, according to the National Association of Manufacturers.
- The 20 U.S. Free Trade Agreement partners purchased nearly 49 percent ($679.46 billion) of United States manufactured goods exports in 2018 – even though these countries represent only six percent of the world’s population and 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product.
- The Free Trade Agreement countries included Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Peru, Singapore and South Korea.
Manufacturers help to drive the United States economy, with $1.49 trillion in manufactured goods exports in 2018. That same year, $679.46 billion in exports was with our free trade agreement (FTA) partners. Small businesses comprised 96.60% percent of all exporters in the United States.
Here are the Top Five Export Markets (Percent of total manufactured goods exports, 2018)
Canada 18.68%
Mexico 17.14%
China 7.03%
Japan 4.04%
United Kingdom 3.78%
*source: National Association of Manufactures
Now let’s look at some numbers from our United States Census Bureau that takes us back to 2016 and 2017.
Nearly 6 in 10 Export dollars come from manufacturers. That breaks out to 756.2 billion or 58.5% in 2017. according to Census.gov. Also, in 2016, 29.8% of manufacturing employees age 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or higher. The data gathered by the United States Census Bureau also showed that in 2016 manufacturing as a sector employed 11.6 million workers. How does that equate to dollars in the pockets of employees? The average payroll was 663.7 billion dollars.
**Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 Country Business Partners. www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/
More recent data also suggest that American Manufacturing was getting even stronger before the shutdowns that were caused by the COVID-19 virus.
According to this article published on the Robotics and Automation website in August of 2019:
“For the past two years, manufacturers have been setting new records when it comes to manufacturing output, and through the first quarter of 2019, the industry has continued to reach new heights.
Four out of five manufacturers remain positive about their company’s outlook, according to the National Association of Manufacturers’ latest Outlook Survey, and new Bureau of Economic Analysis data find that manufacturers’ level of output hit an all-time high once again.
As noted in the recent BEA report, manufacturers produced a total of $2.3852 trillion worth of goods for the economy in the first quarter of 2019, up from $2.3845 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Chad Moutray, NAM’s chief economist, says: “Manufacturing output has consistently set new records since the beginning of 2017, and while we have seen softer data so far in 2019 than we might prefer, I would continue to expect the sector to hit new all-time highs throughout the rest of this year.” In fact, manufacturing accounted for 11.3 percent of real GDP in the first quarter of 2019 – and the industry continues to have the largest economic multiplier of any major sector. Moutray says: “At a time when conventional wisdom holds that the sector is less important than it once was, all of these data show manufacturing in the United States is alive and kicking, producing more goods than ever and continuing to be a bright spot in the economy.”
The industry’s continued success has created many new jobs as well. Manufacturing job openings were also at an all-time high in May with 509,000 open jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
This solid job creation is actually exacerbating an existing challenge in the industry: a lack of enough skilled workers. Manufacturers could have 2.4 million unfilled jobs by 2028 unless the right steps are taken today to build the workforce of tomorrow. The National Association of Manufacturers and The Manufacturing Institute are leading the way toward solving this workforce crisis, and they have launched a $10 million Creators Wanted campaign, which plans to fill 600,000 manufacturing jobs by 2025.”
At Paul Bryan USA, we are proud to say that not only are all our quality socks are designed right here in the USA, but they all are also made right here in the USA. We believe that our American made luxury socks are far superior to any product that is being imported from China or any other country at the same price point. From our Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Awareness socks, to our performance nano silver, and Coolmax socks you’ll feel great when you ask yourself “what’s on your feet?” Remember, “you get what you pay for”. A great quality sock that will last years as opposed to having to put up with holes in the heal and toe until you buy more cheap imported goods.
Paul Bryan USA is also proud of the jobs we were able to keep active during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Having our mill designated as an essential business was key to keeping workers happy, employed, and most of all safe.
So, when you see our labels, hang tags, website, and any other messaging Paul Bryan USA produces, you will always see that “Made in the USA” message. That is why we put the flag of the United States of America right between our names in our logo.
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The Paul Bryan- Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Ribbon Socks Connection