Made in America focus overlooks black manufacturers

Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame member Roy L. Clay Sr. has insisted on making his electronic test equipment in the United States since founding Rod-L Electronics Inc. in 1977.   His sense of civic responsibility also meant that dozens of graduates of OIC-West programs in Menlo Park have gotten their start in manufacturing through Rod-L.

Increasing the number and scale of black manufacturing firms like Rod-L or the 65-year-old Bronner Bros, which operates two factories for its cosmetics products in Atlanta, or food manufacturers like Baldwin-Richardson Foods, with two plants in New York; Home-Style Foods in Georgia or flavored lemonade bottler United Beverage Group is essential to address the loss of jobs.

Manufacturers initate a supply-chain which generates other businesses as wholesalers, retailers and service providers. Bronner Bros. attracts more than 60,000 persons to its annual international hair show and United Beverage is sold in 20,000 retail outlets nationally.

On that rationale, the Obama administration invested more than $40 billion to rescue two of the big three automakers, General Motors and Chrysler.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research concluded the ratio of African Americansworking in manufacturing fell from 23.9 percent in 1979 to 9.8 percent in 2007. Blacks were actually 15 percent less likely than other groups in 2007 to have a job in manufacturing.

A trend towards non-union manufacturing employment also negatively affects African-Americans, who have the highest rate of union participation in the workforce.  In 1974, a landmark settlement between the United Steelworkers, nine steel makers and the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission settled a long series of civil rights suits to break into that industry.  The documentary Struggles in Steel describes how blacks fought from the Civil War onward to break into factory jobs.

The average unemployment rate for Blacks in 2011 was 15.8 percent, compared to 7.9 percent for Whites, and 11.5 percent for Hispanics, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  "Blacks are under-represented in the sectors that have experienced the greatest job growth during the recovery, including manufacturing and professional and business services," according to a Dept. of Labor study of the impact of the recession on African-Americans.

The top 10 categories of manufacturing purchases by federal buyers in the first six months of fiscal year 2012 are: