Tonight I was watching PBS Newshour and they did a story on Erie, Pennsylvania and about the loss of manufacturing jobs there. This county had previously been a Democratic stronghold but flipped in the last election to vote for Trump. It was familiar story: People lamenting the loss of good manufacturing jobs.
In previous posts, I have discussed my thoughts about automation and how many manufacturing jobs are simply not coming back. I have also discussed the need for individuals to be proactive and to seek new training. In addition to re-educating our work force, we need more discussion about the need for workers to relocate. I haven't seen many news stories about this aspect of our economy. The following article in the National Review by Kevin D. Williamson addresses this very subject. It is definitely worth reading.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/444841/help-poor-relocate-find-better-jobs-opportunity
The article notes that "Americas mobility has been declining since the 1980s". It further states that "This lack of geographic mobility correlates strongly with a decline in income mobility (the ability to improve ones financial lot. It is a compound stagnation."
To me it seems like we are in a period of adjustment similar to the years from 1880 to 1920, the American Industrial Revolution. This is when vast numbers of rural citizens left farming for urban areas in search of better jobs. Areas where industries that have been hard hit by globalization and automation are the rural areas of the late 1800s.
The lack of mobility of our citizens is a huge drag on our economy. Has technology decreased our desire to move? Does the ability to follow the world on our phone make us unable or unwilling to see what's in our own backyard? Has technology enabled us to ignore the hard decisions and to be lazy in our lives? Politicians are not doing anyone any favors by promising to return our lives to some fantasy of a by-gone era. Even if more companies begin to manufacture more goods here in the U.S., the automation factor is only going to continue it's march into the future.
The article states "The people who remain are to a very large extent those who lack the resources-financial or spiritual-to leave." To me this illustrates many citizen's refusal to take personal responsibility for their situation. We are never going back to the past. MOVE people! I know it is hard. I have personally had to do this very thing. It sucks to leave a place you love or leave family behind. However, we cannot just expect our politicians to wave a magic wand and create jobs.
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