MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- The most recent unemployment numbers released by the Labor Department are discouraging for the millions of Americans that are currently searching for work, and Congress should be doing all it can to put America's middle class back to work in the manufacturing industry, says the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).
The AEM is encouraged by the House bill that establishes the equivalent of a Blue Ribbon commission to study manufacturing jobs, but says that the nation's unemployed need concrete action on jobs.
The AEM says 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.
For more information, visit https://www.aem.org/
