'I Make America' Campaign Aims to Create Manufacturing Jobs
by Dennis Slater
November 11, 2010
An astonishing 5.5 million manufacturing jobs have been
wiped off the board nationwide during this economic recession. That’s roughly equivalent
to the number of people living in Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota,
Vermont and Wyoming COMBINED.
The job losses have devastated individuals, families and entire
communities. The story is still being written – and can include a happy ending
if our political leaders muster the collective will to look beyond the
challenges and embrace the opportunities.
Recently the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) helped launched an initiative aimed at
creating millions of manufacturing jobs by investing in the improvement of our
nation’s crumbling transportation infrastructure. The project, called I Make America, seeks to convince members
of Congress to provide the critical funding necessary to make the fixes and lay
the foundation for economic prosperity for decades to come.
As a nation we have allowed our infrastructure to
deteriorate to the point where the experts say it will require an annual $225
billion national investment for each of the next 50 years to reverse harm
caused by years of neglect. We’re
spending about 40 percent of that sum today, a woeful shortchanging of what
should be a national economic priority.
Research from the Department of Labor has shown that every
$1 billion invested in infrastructure creates 30,000 good-paying jobs, and
every $100 invested in infrastructure returns $350 to the economy.
With Election Day now behind us and stimulus funds soon to
end, it’s time for Congress to step up and make the necessary investments to
fix our roads, bridges and other infrastructure, boost our economy and put
people back to work.
Visit IMakeAmerica.com to tell Congress to invest in our country’s future by supporting funding for
infrastructure investments.
To learn more about AEM and the I Make America campaign, visit www.aem.org and www.imakeamerica.com/.
Dennis Slater
Dennis Slater is president of AEM.
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