URS CEO anticipates U.S. manufacturing renaissance

Martin Koffel, head of engineering company URS Corp , feels the United States is poised for a manufacturing renaissance, driven at least in part by demand among the developing world's burgeoning consumer ...

There are two big emerging economic stories coming out of the U.S. There's the American energy boom, which will be driven by drillers tapping American shale. And there's the American manufacturing renaissance, which is supposed to be driven by rising overseas labor costs and falling domestic energy costs (thanks to the energy boom). But so far, there's little evidence to suggest the manufacturing renaissance is underway.

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Guest blog post by Francisco J. Sánchez, Under Secretary of Commerce for International TradeIt’s been called the beginning of a manufacturing renaissance. As President Obama noted at yesterday’s “Insourcing American Jobs” forum, 334,000 manufacturing jobs have been created in the past two years. And, in the third quarter of 2011, manufacturing profits were up more than 7 percent compared to the first quarter.These positive trends are very good news because manufacturing is a key to our economy. As the Department of Commerce’s report—“The Competitiveness and Innovative Capacity of the United States”—recently highlighted, in 2009, manufacturing made up more than 11 percent of GDP.It employed nearly 12 million workers. And, these are good jobs. In the manufacturing sector, total hourly compensation is, on average, 22 percent higher than the services sector.That’s why the Obama administration is firmly committed to working with the manufacturing industry to keep this momentum going.Today, I had the honor of serving as the keynote speaker at the National Association of Manufacturers’ Council of Manufacturing Associations (NAM CMA) winter meeting.I talked about the work we are doing at the International Trade Administration to support their efforts. Exports and manufacturing are intimately linked. U.S. businesses produce the best and most innovative products in the world. But, what good is a product if it sits on a shelf? Businesses need to sell them.