Essay Help : U.S. Economy 2019 - Essay Samples

U.S. Economy 2019 - Essay Samples

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U.S. Economy deepened their slump in September 2019, cutting 5,500 seasonally adjusted jobs from payrolls, as overall job growth for the month and an upward revision in August employment reassured Wall Street that the economy still has some steam. In the retail sector, specialty stores boosted payrolls, and the consolidating department stores segment continued to trim its workforce. (Ellis, Kristi 2019)

The fundamental changes in the global economy have affected each occupation in the textile manufacturing industries in distinct ways. Nearly every occupational group has declined over the previous 11-year period, and most occupations are expected to decline further in the projected 11-year period. Nevertheless, employment changes have varied across occupations and will continue to do so. Occupational groups fall broadly into three categories, depending on their absolute employment change and the percent of the industry that they constitute.

Along with the retail industry, the textile and apparel industries make up the chain of production and distribution that is responsible for providing consumers with clothes and other products. The textile industry is the first link in this chain. Textile mills make yarn, thread, and fabric for clothing, but they also manufacture such products as carpeting, automotive upholstery, cord, and twine. The major processes in these highly automated mills include yarn spinning, weaving, knitting, tufting, and non-woven production. Employment is widely distributed throughout the different sectors of the industry, but most workers produce items that are eventually used to produce apparel. In 1995, the textile industry employed about 650,000 workers. Unfortunately, professional specialty occupations is one of the smallest groups in both industries, and its growth will create very few new jobs.

Three occupational groups are declining in employment, yet they are growing as a share of total industry employment. The largest among these is precision production, craft, and repair occupations. Employment in most occupations in this group is projected to decline, but one of the largest occupations in this group, industrial machinery mechanics, is expected to grow as the number of machines increases. Among other occupations in the group, inspectors will shrink as the inspection process becomes increasingly automated and distributed throughout the production process, and blue-collar worker supervisors will decline as the number of workers to supervise contracts.

Other occupational groups in this second category are executive, administrative, and managerial occupations, as well as marketing and sales occupations. The former group will increase its share of industry employment as the need for coordination grows, and the latter will increase its employment share in both industries as sales and marketing staff take on greater importance in competing for consumers in a stagnant, highly competitive international market.

Workers in the final category are in occupational groups that are declining in both absolute employment and as a share of industry employment. Not surprisingly, the operators, fabricators, and laborers group heads the list in this category. This group is expected to lose 250,000 jobs in the textile industries between 1994 and 2015. The majority of these job losses will occur among sewing machine operators and textile machine operators, as foreign sourcing and laborsaving machinery combine to eliminate thousands of positions throughout the country.

The other major group that will see absolute declines is administrative support occupations. As in many other industries, the apparel and textile industries will shed clerks and other administrative support workers as office automation continues and job responsibilities are transferred to other workers.

In coming years, occupations that require more education will enjoy the most stable employment, but most jobs will continue to be held by lower skilled workers. In spite of the rapid decline of operators, fabricators, and laborers, these occupations are projected to provide nearly 900,000 jobs or two-thirds of all jobs in the textile industries in 2019. Some workers in these occupations may need to receive additional training to use new automation or to work in a flexible manufacturing system, but skill levels are not expected to increase greatly because much of the new equipment is designed to keep worker retraining to a minimum. The modernization of the industry will result in a premium being placed on workers who understand how to work with new computer-controlled machines. In fact, some textile producers report difficulty in finding skilled production workers in a number of occupations. Others are also reporting shortages in lower skilled positions in some parts of the country, so it appears that in spite of rapid declines, there will still be jobs at every level of the industry over the next decade.

References
Ellis, Kristi, Apparel and Textile Job Loss Continues, WWD: Women's Wear Daily, 01495380, 1/12/2019, Vol. 194, Issue 74