Reshoring Initiative: return of US jobs predates Trump

There may be a new era in the US. While domestic manufacturers used to seek out the most cost-effective location, regardless of distance, more are returning to US shores than in decades. This has resulted in more than 338,000 reshored manufacturing jobs since the country’s manufacturing employment low of February 2010.

The trend cannot be completely attributed to the Trump administration’s America First policy. The Reshoring Initiative determined this fact in its 2016 Reshoring Data Book. Mr Trump took office in January 2017. Findings in the Data Book indicate that combined reshoring and FDI trends grew by more than 10% in 2016 when 77,000 jobs were added (tying the 2014 record). The reshoring portion of total was about 27,000 net jobs.

The book’s premise indicates, however, that the numbers demonstrate that reshoring and FDI are important contributing factors to the country’s rebounding manufacturing sector and that the overall trend was up from 2015 due to anticipation of potential policy changes that will make the US more competitive.

“With three to four million manufacturing jobs still offshore, as measured by our $500b-a-year trade deficit, there is potential for much more growth,” said Harry Moser, founder and president of the Reshoring Initiative.