Economic Perspective: Advanced Manufacturing Industries

MIKE WALDEN:

“Today’s program looks at an advanced manufacturing industry. Now manufacturing has changed a lot from what it used to be decades ago. Today much of manufacturing is going high tech, and they’re also hiring workers with college training. So does this mean we have to rethink and rename manufacturing?”

“Actually this is already occurring. In fact, if you talk to people in manufacturing there’s a new term, called advanced manufacturing. This includes that part of manufacturing that has a high level of research and development spending per worker. It also uses a very high percentage of STEM workers, people who have been trained in science, technology, engineering and math. And it’s increasingly becoming a bigger part of total manufacturing.”

“It’s also much more competitive in international trade. Now North Carolina certainly has a major presence in advanced manufacturing. In fact, it employs over 300,000 thousand workers in those industries. Many people think this is going to be the future of manufacturing, and North Carolina already has a part of that future.”

Walden is a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor and Extension Economist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at North Carolina State University who teaches and writes on personal finance, economic outlook and public policy.