America's Manufacturing Industry Responds to Today's Job Loss Numbers
Statement from Dennis Slater, President of Association of Equipment Manufacturers
MILWAUKEE, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The unemployment numbers released by the Labor Department today are discouraging news for the millions of Americans seeking work. Our economy is stuck at 9.5 percent unemployment, and Congress should be pulling out the stops to put America's middle class back to work in the manufacturing industry. Last week the House passed a bill that establishes the equivalent of a Blue Ribbon commission to study manufacturing jobs. We're encouraged to see this focus on manufacturing, but a study commission is not enough. Our nation's unemployed need concrete action on jobs – and they need it now.
There are two simple, yet fundamental, things Congress can do not only to improve the outlook for equipment manufacturing jobs but for our nation's long-term, sustainable economic growth and global competitiveness:
- Generate economic activity by rebuilding and modernizing America's infrastructure – roads, bridges, sewer, clean water and flood control systems – starting immediately with the long overdue reauthorization of the federal surface transportation programs.
- Help our farmers and manufacturers create more jobs in the U.S. by exporting their products to new markets around the world. One very direct way to do this is by passing the pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia.
This is what the AEM stands for – it's also what America wants.
About the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) - www.aem.org
AEM is the North American-based international trade group providing innovative business development resources to advance the off-road equipment manufacturing industry in the global marketplace. AEM membership comprises more than 800 companies and 200-plus product lines in the agriculture, construction, forestry, mining and utility sectors worldwide. AEM is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with offices in the capitals of Washington, D.C., Ottawa, Beijing and a European presence in Brussels.
SOURCE Association of Equipment Manufacturers
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