USC Economists Predict SC Economy Will Improve In 2011

[Scotty011]

Originally Posted by induchman

How does Charleston's rosy future look, now that Dept of Labor and Boeing's union interfered with the Dreamliner plant?

Actually it looks damn good since th NLRB has dropped the suit and things are going ahead full steam.

[Columbiadata]

I think all the metros are looking really good right now with recent employment growth and new announcements. Things are no doubt fragile, but we could be still reading about big layoffs and closing plants. Let's hope those headlines don't return.

[induchman]

Boeing used SC as leverage for an extended contract to 2016 with the machinists union. Looks like SC and WA are the winners. You get the Dreamliner and Renton retains the 737 Max.

Business & Technology | Big day at Boeing: Contract flies | Seattle Times Newspaper

[Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus]

Recently I heard that the Boston Consulting Group (a major business consulting firm) predicted that by 2013, South Carolina and Alabama will be cheaper places to run a manufacturing operation, than coastal China.


(edit: here is a blog, analyzing said analysis)

http://blogs.infor.com/inside/page/2/ (broken link)

A senior partner at BCG is quoted in the release as saying “All over China, wages are climbing at 15 to 20 percent a year because of the supply-and-demand imbalance for skilled labor.”

He goes on to say that “We expect net labor costs for manufacturing in China and the U.S. to converge” by the middle of this decade, and “that you’re going to see a lot more products ‘Made in the USA’ in the next five years.” The net labor costs also include the value of the yuan relative to the dollar and the higher productivity of skilled US workers. As a result of these factors, flexible work rules, and local/state incentives, BCG is anticipating increased hiring in places like Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina.

The magazine went deeper than the press release in reporting BCG’s findings. For example, BCG estimated that last year, the average wage paid to a Chinese worker was 31% of that paid to American workers. This will rise to 44% by 2015. If you compare the more expensive workers along coastal China to Mississippi laborers, the delta was 48% last year, and will jump to an estimated 69% by mid-decade.

[Hawknest]

Several mfg companies that abandoned North America are returning - MasterLock - one of them.