In a release from the Office of the Press Secretary prior to his travels, Obama outlined new strategies for boosting the economy through the manufacturing sector in an effort to continue the growth in the nation’s economy since he first took office.
This sector has been continually growing since 2009, the year the president officially took office, adding an aggregate 677,000 employees nationwide, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
According to the National Association of Manufacturers, the sector contributes to nearly one-sixth of the jobs in the private sector.
“When our manufacturing base is strong, our entire economy is strong,” Obama said in his National Manufacturing Day Proclamation. “Today, we continue our work to bolster the industry at the heart of our nation. With grit and resolve, we can create new jobs and widen the circle of opportunity for more Americans.”
Among the strategies described in the release, the only one discussed at MSS was the announcement of a new competition to create an Integrated Photonics Manufacturing Institute.
The competition will be led by the Department of Defense and will award more than $100 million in federal investment, with a matched or greater private investment, to the winning consortium, according to the press release.
“When we think about manufacturing, we only think about the traditional guys with the hard hats and the glasses, sparks flying and noisy,” Obama said. “These days you go into a manufacturing plant like this, and it’s clean and quiet and so much of it is running on computers, automation and new systems. So if we’re going to stay competitive in manufacturing, we’ve got some terrific ?advantages.”
Our biggest advantage is energy, he said. Because of this advantage, the nation needs to be one step ahead in the research and development of new technologies like integrated photonics.
According to endogenous growth theory, investment in technologies will contribute to significant economic growth, which has been increasing since the beginning of Obama’s presidency.
Factors which influence economic growth include productivity and GDP, both of which data suggests is increasing.
Since 2010, the compound annual growth rate of United States exports, a contributor to GDP when total domestic imports are taken into account, has gone up by 7.7 percent, according to the ?White House.
Federal Reserve economic data shows an overall increase in real GDP since Obama officially took office in 2009.
The same sources cite a 20-percent growth in output since 2010. Combined with BLS numbers suggesting a consistently decreasing national unemployment rate beginning in 2009, these numbers go hand-in-hand to prove increasing productivity in the US.
Obama also emphasized the middle class in his weekly address at MSS.
“We do better when the middle class does better and when more Americans have their way to climb into the middle class,” Obama said.
In an effort to support middle-class growth, Obama proposed increasing the minimum wage.
“It would put more money in workers’ pockets,” he said. “It would help 20 million Americans. Recent surveys show the majority of small business owners support a gradual increase to $10.10 an hour.”
Since Obama has taken office, income inequality in the US has gone up, according to census data on the GINI index, a variable used to measure a nation’s wealth ?disparity.
“Let’s give America a raise,” Obama said. “Let’s do this because it would make our economy stronger and make sure that growth is shared. Rather than just reading about our recovery in the headlines, more people would feel it in their own lives.”
