Those Stubborn Facts: No American Exceptionalism in Employment

Tags

Employment, Jobs, OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

U.S. employment rate*, 4Q 2016: 69.5%

Rank among members of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): 15

OECD average: 67.2%

*share of working-age population holding jobs

(Source: “Short-Term Labour Market Statistics,” Labour Force Statisics, OECD.Stat, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=STLABOUR)

Those Stubborn Facts: From the World’s New Champion of Free Trade

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China, free markets, free trade, investment, state-owned enterprises, Those Stubborn Facts

Annual investment growth by Chinese state-owned companies,

2016: + c. 25%

 

Annual investment growth by Chinese “private” companies,

2016: + c. 3%

 

(Source: “Beijing Revs Up State Inc.,” by Ian Talley, The Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2017, http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2017/03/20/beijing-revs-up-state-inc/)

Those Stubborn Facts: America’s Far from First Yet in World Trade

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America First, exports, imports, Those Stubborn Facts, Trade

World exports, Nov. 2015-Nov. 2016: +3.77%

U.S. exports, Nov. 2015-Nov. 2016: +1.21%

World imports, Nov. 2015-Nov. 2016: +1.67%

U.S. imports, Nov. 2015-Nov. 2016: +2.84%

*All figures in volume terms

(Source: “CPB World Trade Monitor: November, 2016,” Data, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, January 25, 2017, https://www.cpb.nl/en/figure/cpb-world-trade-monitor-november-2016. HT to Paul Hannon, The Wall Street Journal)

Those Stubborn Facts: About Those Low-Tech Chinese….

Tags

China, Digitimes, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, semiconductors, technology, Those Stubbprn Facts

Number of front-end semiconductor manufacturing facilities forecast to begin operating worldwide 2017-2020: 62

Number forecast to begin operations in China: 26 (c. 42%)

Number forecast to begin operations in “the Americas”: 10 (c. 16%)

(Source: “China to join top-3 semiconductor equipment spenders for first time, says SEMI,” by Jessie Shen, Digitimes, December 14, 2016, http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20161214PR200.html)

Those Stubborn Facts: The Race to the Bottom Continues in World Garment Trade

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Bangladesh, factory safety, garments, globalization, Rana Plaza, Those Stubborn Facts, Trade

Estimated cost of safety upgrades mandated for Bangladesh garment factories after April, 2013 Rana Plaza disaster: $929 million

Amount of renovations that haven’t been made: $635 million

 
(Source: “Clothing Keeps Getting Cheaper, and Factory Workers Are Paying the Price,” by Vauhini Vara, Bloomberg News, October 27, 2016, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-27/clothing-keeps-getting-cheaper-and-factory-workers-are-paying-the-price)

Those Stubborn Facts: Immigration Profiling, Obama-Style

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border security, immigrants, Immigration, Middle East, Muslims, national security, Obama, profiling, Those Stubborn Facts

Home countries responsible for biggest % change in U.S. immigrant population, 2010-14:

Saudi Arabia: +93% (42,000)

Bangladesh: +37% (56,000)

Iraq: +36% (57,000)

Egypt: +25% (35,000)

Pakistan (tied with India & Ethiopia in percentage terms): +24% (71,000)

Total world: +6% (2.435 million)

(Steven A. Camarota and Karen Ziegler, Immigrants in the United States: A profile of the foreign-born using 2014 and 2015 Census Bureau data (Washington, D.C.: Center for Immigration Studies), October, 2016, http://cis.org/sites/cis.org/files/immigrant-profile_0.pdf)

Those Stubborn Facts: Hopelessly Un-competitive China Somehow Keeps Excelling at Exporting

Tags

China, exports, global economy, globalization, Those Stubborn Facts, Trade

China share of global exports, 2015: 14.6 %

Change from 2014: +13.2%

Times since 1980 when any country has produced this % of global exports: None

(Source: “China’s Export Machine Is Grabbing More of the Global Market,” Bloomberg News, September 6, 2016, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-06/china-export-machine-defying-gravity-grabs-global-market-share)

Those Stubborn Facts: The Highest-End Jobs Keep Getting Offshored, Too

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FDI, foreign direct investment, Jobs, offshoring, research and development, Those Stubborn Facts

Global Corporate Research and Development Investment, Jan. 2013 – June, 2016

China: $24.2 billion

India: $13.1 billion

United States: $10.2 billion

 

Jobs Created by Above Investment

China: 25,700

India: 43,900

United States: 10,500

(Source: “Apple has chance to pick better R&D model in China,” by Andrew Hill, Financial Times, August 22, 2016, https://www.ft.com/content/fe00be6a-646d-11e6-8310-ecf0bddad227)

Those Stubborn Facts: Trailing Edge Growth for the U.S. Semiconductor Production Equipment Market

Tags

Asia, China, manufacturing, SEMI, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, semiconductors, tech, Those Stubborn Facts

Semiconductor Equipment Industry Association 2016 Year-on-Year Market Growth Forecast:

China: +30.8%

Europe: +6.2%

Taiwan:  -1.8%

Japan:    -7.6%

“North America” (mainly U.S.):  -9.8%

Korea:  -17.3%

(Source: “Chip Equipment Spending SEMI Forecasts: Flat 2016, Rebound in 2017,” SEMI, July 12, 2016, http://www.semi.org/en/chip-equipment-spending-semi-forecasts-flat-2016-rebound-2017)

Those Stubborn Facts: In Manufacturing, US is Number…Four

Tags

manufacturing, production, Those Stubborn Facts

Switzerland per capita manufacturing output per person, 2014: $15,000

Germany per capita manufacturing output per person, 2014: $9,500

Japan per capita manufacturing output per person, 2014: $7,000

US per capita manufacturing output per person, 2014: $6,500

China per capita manufacturing output per person, 2014: $2,100

(Source: “Advanced Economies Must Still Make Things,” by Vaclav Smil, IEEE Spectrum, March 29, 2016, http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/tech-careers/advanced-economies-must-still-make-things)