Chow Dang
speaker
36 appearances
3 recordings
1 series
first heard May 2025
last heard 16 Dec
Chow Dang’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Dec 2025 with 1.
Appearances
Policy could change.
Local policies could make an impact and interrupt plans.
Trump's tariffs might change in a few years.
There might be a different president and a different economic policy.
And so in the time that it takes to expand a production line or build a factory, there are just so many variables that can change.
One thing manufacturing executives complain a lot about right now is obviously the lack of clarity with the tariffs and where rates will eventually settle.
And to some extent, they're getting more clarity on that, though everyone knows that Trump's trade wars are always unpredictable.
It looks like some of the tariffs are settling around 15 percent, especially on
South Korea, European and Japan and some economists have said that rate is actually fairly manageable.
And so therefore, at those rates, we won't necessarily see a lot of reshoring.
But then, of course, the flip side is that tariffs at the end of the day are being paid by US importers buying goods from abroad.
Higher tariffs will ultimately hurt American companies looking to expand production.
WSJ What’s News · House Republicans Face Difficult Trade-Offs to Pass Tax Bill · 19 May 2025
podcast
Well, if you contrast manufacturing jobs with desk jobs, it's immediately obvious that jobs in manufacturing are tiring, can be dangerous. The economic statistics show that manufacturers actually pay lower today than the private sector on the whole, whereas in the 1980s, manufacturing wages were higher.
And then finally, there are a lot of misconceptions, especially amongst young people on what manufacturing or factory jobs entail. There's a misconception that all of them are dirty and dangerous, whereas that's not true all the time. Unlike decades back, modern facilities are incredibly sophisticated with a high level of automation. But some of these misconceptions may still persist.
It's an open question. If the jobs do come back, then companies will certainly have to raise wages or add other inducements to attract workers, maybe. greater levels of scheduling flexibility. Right now, obviously, with most production shifts on a very rigid work schedule. We have seen companies work with trade schools and community colleges to try to get workers the skills that they need.
The problem is that a lot of skills in factory work are really best learned on the job. And we have seen firms do outreach to high schoolers and even middle schoolers. There are some programs to get kids at least aware of manufacturing and trade work.
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