SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Manufacturers Association is once again seeking nominations for the coolest products made in Illinois.
Denzler
Makers Madness is a bracket-style contest where residents can vote for their favorite products made by Illinois manufacturers. This is his fourth year the state trade association has run the tournament.
Mark Denzler, President and CEO of IMA, said:
More than a third of jobs in Illinois are related to manufacturing, the organization said, making manufacturing the state’s largest industry when ranked by contribution to gross domestic product.
The contest has grown from 152 entries in its first year to 400 entries in last year’s competition. In his first three years, he received more than 800,000 votes, according to the organization.
Any product physically manufactured in Illinois is eligible for nomination, but a company’s headquarters may be outside of Illinois. encouraged to do so.
Nominations can be submitted at: MakerMadnessil.com.
The first two winners of the competition were a Caterpillar 797F heavy-duty mining truck and a self-regulating traffic heater manufactured by Termico Technologies. Last year, the Rivian Automotive R1T electric pickup truck claimed the top spot.
Rivian executives invited reporters and other members of the media to experience first-hand the manufacturing process of an electric fleet.
Here is the competition schedule:
- Recommendation acceptance: February 2nd to 19th
- Nomination Vote: February 21-March 5
- Round 1 (Top 16): March 7-12
- Round 2 (Top 8): March 14-19
- Finals (Top 4): March 21-26
The overall winner and the “Coolest Thing Made in Illinois” title will be presented on March 29 at the Governor’s Mansion.
What’s Behind the Increase in Manufacturing Jobs?
Is America entering a new era of domestic manufacturing?
Since the COVID-19 recession in early 2020, U.S. manufacturing employment has rebounded faster than ever before.
peaking in 1979In the 1980s, US manufacturing reached some precipice.
The United States was still a commodity producer. Output remained relatively steady, but by the end of the decade fewer Americans were employed mining metals, building automobiles, and assembling military technology for the defense sector.
However, from the mid-20th century to the year 2000, the United States reduced manufacturing employment and increased service employment. It is now a distinctive sector in the country’s economy, second only to the high technology sector.
The 1980s began with a double recession. This is in contrast to today’s tough economic climate, caused by a race for resources abroad and a tightening of monetary policy aimed at combating high inflation. Manufacturing accounted for one of his three jobs in America at the time, but by 1982, the worst recession since the Great Depression had devastated jobs that produced goods. gave.
The manufacturing department has an oversized 90% of the unemployed, according to historical Bureau of Labor Statistics data. At the time, the mining industry suffered the greatest losses, with three of his five workers laid off who had jobs related to the extraction of important resources such as iron and copper.
Today, manufacturing employment is well below the 20 million it reached in 1979. However, based on preliminary data for November 2022, employment has reached about 13 million, the highest level of employment in the sector since recovering from the COVID-19 downturn. 2009.
How did the US manage it and enter a new era of domestic manufacturing?
Let’s try making it BLS analyzed Incumbent statistics data We looked at the recent surge in manufacturing jobs and charted them against a timeline of events that contributed to the increase in manufacturing jobs added over the past decade. BLS data is based on research, so actual employment figures may vary.
Kamba
Manufacturing jobs surpass pre-COVID levels
In previous economic cycles, U.S. manufacturers have lost jobs during recessions and then regained jobs, but never have jobs returned to pre-recession levels. This was the case with manufacturing job losses in the 1980s.
Here are the challenges facing the US workforce (mostly manufacturing) in 1980: manyAccording to Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Thomas A. Kochan, the globalization of business, increased competition from other countries in the automotive and metal industries, technological advances that reduce the number of workers producing the same product, and currencies like China It has to do with the relative affordability of outsourcing manual labor to cheaper countries.
The challenges faced by manufacturers in the COVID-19 recession were rather simple. Business leaders were unsure when Americans would start spending money as the virus spread.
But that fear vanished as the government began extending unemployment benefits to workers, paying out stimulus packages, and waiving payroll loans to businesses.consumer spending roared back to life By the end of 2020, Americans were hungrier for goods than for services. They were getting furniture, vehicles, and houses, as well as medical masks, which many manufacturers began producing him in the spring of 2020.
Let’s try making it
Federal automatic bailout and post-recession recovery
Part of what made the Great Recession of 2008 so big was, so to speak, the severity and protracted nature of the crisis. Employment recovery has been smooth since then, but slower than during previous recessions. It might have been slower if the US hadn’t provided her $80 billion in capital to bail out the big US automakers.In one study, stored work as a result of stimulation 1.5 million.
The years that followed were seen as a recovery, leading to the 2020 recession. Consumer demand has slowly returned as Americans recover their credit scores and make big purchases.like a new car— otherwise it might have been postponed during the recession. This helped support the manufacturing jobs of an American worker who assembled the latest and greatest trucks and his SUVs.
John Gress Media Inc // Shutterstock
Pandemic Relief Act
When the U.S. entered this recent COVID-19-induced recession, manufacturing jobs were equally affected as other industries. Major automakers to close assembly plants in the spring, dealer closed their doors. In food production, a meat processing plant shut down as workers fell ill and news of a worker’s death flooded cable news.
But the rebound was quick.
Most economists attribute the rapid rebound in employment to the massive aid package passed by parliament.issued by the U.S. government $4.5 trillion Across the pandemic aid, the largest tranches will go to the Small Business Administration and the Department of Labor, agencies that deal with employment.Forgivable Loans for Payroll, Expanded Unemployment Benefits, and tens of millions Specifically, it aims to get manufacturers back to producing goods.
Evgenia Parajanian // Shutterstock
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and CHIPS and Science Law
Bipartisan legislation enacted in the aftermath of the COVID-19 recession provides guidance on where manufacturing jobs are headed in the coming years.
Congress Infrastructure Investment and Employment Law 2021 and CHIPS and scientific law In 2022.Infrastructure investment and employment laws unprecedented Invest $550 billion by 2026 to build and repair bridges, roads, highways, rural internet infrastructure and water treatment plants.
The CHIPS and Science Act is intended to revitalize the U.S. manufacturing sector to compete with foreign countries such as China and maintain a steady supply of critical commodities such as computer chips for U.S. consumers. .Ah shortage At the beginning of the pandemic, computer chip production disrupted the manufacturing supply chain for everything from computers to automobiles.
CEO of a New York-based auto parts maker when the CHIPS Act was passed express relief“For years my industry has been at the mercy of the supply chain.”
This story was originally published on Get It Made and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
Chip Somodevilla//Getty Images
