Bureau of Labor Statistics reports ZERO GROWTH in manufacturing jobs in March

04/11/2024 / By Ava Grace

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has reported no new manufacturing jobs were added in March despite the administration of President Joe Biden creating many programs and public spending initiatives to boost hiring in the sector.

This comes from the BLS’s latest Employment Situation Summary for March, revealing that the number of manufacturing jobs in the United States remained at 12,956,000 – a figure that has not changed since February, following a decline of 10,000 jobs from January.

The figure comes despite the Biden administration launching an aggressive campaign to increase manufacturing employment through public subsidies enacted under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. (Related: Majority of “new jobs” in the US under Biden have gone to foreigners, not Americans.)

“The IRA’s climate and clean energy tax incentives have the potential to drive investment that will support more than one million jobs in energy and related manufacturing sectors over the coming decade,” wrote the Department of the Treasury in a press release about the IRA’s potential. “By creating incentives for paying prevailing wages and utilizing qualified apprentices from registered apprenticeship programs in clean energy projects, the IRA is helping expand well-paying union jobs and support proven pathways into the industry.”

Thousands of jobs disappeared in prominent manufacturing industries

Within the manufacturing sector, several prominent industries lost thousands of jobs. These included machinery manufacturing, which lost 2,500 jobs and primary metal manufacturing, which lost 1,000 jobs, according to the BLS.

In addition to the IIJA and IRA, the Biden administration has touted subsidies authorized by Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act as instrumental to ensuring that semiconductor chips, which are essential to electronic devices, are built in the United States. However, in March that industry lost 700 jobs, while computer and electronic manufacturing lost 1,700 and electrical appliance and component manufacturing lost 2,100 jobs, respectively.

“Under President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the CHIPS and Science Act aims to change that by making a historic investment in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, research and development (R&D), and the workforce,” wrote the White House in a fact sheet about the program. “The CHIPS R&D program includes $11 billion in total funding.”

Other losing industries were apparel manufacturing, which lost 2,100 jobs, as well as “beverage, tobacco, and leather and allied product manufacturing,” which lost 3,500 jobs. Most of these losses were accounted for by gains in transportation equipment manufacturing, where 11,400 new jobs were created.

Additional losses occurred in computer and electronic manufacturing, electrical appliance and component manufacturing, apparel manufacturing, and “beverage, tobacco, and leather and allied product manufacturing.”

Labor unions, which have historically aimed to represent manufacturing workers and shield them from job losses, view this sector’s health as crucial. Biden has frequently proclaimed his administration as “the most pro-union” in American history, highlighting the administration’s commitment to supporting unionized sectors, including manufacturing.

Learn more about the state of the American economy under the administration of President Joe Biden at EconomicRiot.com.

Watch this video from John Williams discussing how the latest jobs report notes that unemployment is rising.

This video is from the ThisisJohnWilliams channel on Brighteon.com.