As jobs numbers have gone up, so has the realization that the high-tech industry is playing
a major role in our economic recovery.
The federal government reported today that grew by 121,000 jobs - that's 25 straight months of private-sector growth with a total of 4.1 million jobs created. We also saw a drop in the overall unemployment rate, down to 8.2 percent. This is good and welcome news.
There's one area that we want to focus on today - manufacturing. The March data showed that manufacturing employment rose by 37,000 jobs for the month. That's the latest in a very positive trend for American manufacturers. During the past 25 months, we've added 466,000 manufacturing jobs -- the best manufacturing-sector growth for any 25 month period since September 1995.
Let's be clear: the manufacturing jobs of the 21st century are not the same as manufacturing jobs even two decades ago. As economist noted earlier today, "This is the kind of manufacturing that uses a lot of computers. You need a lot of knowledge. You're hiring educated workers to operate these factory lines." To make the point bluntly: we aren't competing to manufacture children's letter blocks; we are competing to make intricate, cutting-edge products that are in high demand around the world.
This reality underscores our TechElect priorities, and the urgency of the presidential candidates to adopt new-century approaches to STEM education, tax incentives for research and development, and an overall tax structure that keeps jobs and investments in the U.S. And we need a manufacturing strategy that goes hand-in-glove with an innovation and trade strategy. For American manufacturing to continue to succeed in the global marketplace, it can't be old-school; it has to be high-tech. It must be driven by innovation and creativity.
The recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression has been hard, and it will continue to be so. There are steps that our policymakers can take right now to accelerate the growth we're seeing in manufacturing in this sector and throughout the economy. Yesterday, the President signed the bipartisan JOBS Act into law. That will help, but there is much more to be done to power the engine of economic growth that the country - and the world - badly needs.