What’s in store for the country’s manufacturing industry? Well, most experts predict a bright future for American manufacturing, a sentiment that was shared in a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
Last month, President Trump held a meeting with some of the top manufacturing companies. During this meeting, he announced that some 93% of manufacturing executives surveyed by NAM were “optimistic” about the future of the American manufacturing industry and the country’s economy as a whole.
Of course, this isn’t the first survey highlighting the positive trend in the American manufacturing industry. Numerous other surveys have also revealed similar findings, suggesting that the industry is growing at a fast and positive rate. These numbers are reflected by manufacturing companies, many of which have reported strong growth in recent months. Whether or not this growth is attributed to a new president in office remains to be seen. However, there’s no denying the fact that American manufacturing continues to grow with each passing month.
For more than 20 years, the lobbying organization NAM has conducted a quarterly survey of its 14,000 plus members, asking them for insight regarding their level of optimism on the future. Shortly before Trump took office, the survey found that just 26% said the country was on the right track. Now, however, more than 60% of respondents say the country is on the right track, attesting to the optimistic outlook shared by so many professionals in the manufacturing industry.
“This quarterly survey of our 14,000 members has been going on for 20 years, and to the point you made, this was the highest level of optimism that our manufacturers have expressed in 20 years,” said Jay Timmons, CEO of NAM. “The other statistic that I think you’ll find interesting if the right track wrong track question that our manufacturers answered. Just a month before inauguration, the right track number was only 26%, today it is over 60%. So that’s a huge growth.”
Trump said that this trend is due largely in part to the removal of “job-killing regulations” as well as the removal of burdens on the American industry. President Trump also said that manufacturing jobs had been moving to other countries like Mexico and China — something he plans to change.
So, where does the American manufacturing industry go from here?