May 10, 2017

A Quick Look at Manufacturing Jobs

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Donald Trump is bragging today that “Manufacturing openings, hires rise to highest levels of the recovery.” Well of course they have. As long the economy keeps expanding, openings will set a new record every month, more or less. Like so:

If you want to know how manufacturing is really doing, you want to look at it as a percentage of all job openings. Here you go:

Meh. Manufacturing job openings have been declining since 2012, but have shown a small uptick since the start of 2016. Nothing to get excited about, though.

I know, I know: who cares? Well, what can I tell you? I’m just trying to take my mind off the whole, incredible Comey thing. It’s mind boggling. Maybe today is a good day to start sniffing glue.

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Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

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