Herbie Mays is 3M proud, and it shows - in the 3M shirt he wears; in the 3M ring he earned after three decades at the company’s plant in suburban Cincinnati; in the way he shows offa card from a 3M supervisor, praising Mays as “a great employee.”
But it’s all nostalgia.
Mays’ last day at 3M was in March. Bent on cutting costs and refocusing its portfolio, the company decided to close the plant that made bandages, knee braces and other health care supplies and move work to its plant in Mexico.
At 62, Mays is unemployed and wants to work, though on the face of it he has plenty of opportunities. Barely 10 miles from his ranchstyle brick home in this blue-collar city, GE Aviation has been expanding - and hiring.
In the state-of-the-art laboratory in a World War II-era building the size of 27 football fields, workers use breakthrough technology to build jet engines that run on less fuel at higher temperatures. Bright flashes flare out as GE workers run tests with a robotic arm that can withstand 2,000 degrees (1,090 Celsius).
The open jobs there are among 30,000 manufacturing positions available across Ohio. But Mays, like many of Ohio’s unemployed, doesn’t have the needed skills.
“If you don’t keep up with the times,” he said, “you’re out of luck.”
This is the paradox of American manufacturing jobs in 2017. Donald Trump won the presidency in great measure because he pledged to stop American jobs and manufacturing from going overseas. His message helped him capture Ohio and other Rust Belt states with the support of Mays and other blue-collar voters.
It’s true that many jobs have gone overseas, to places where workers are willing to toil for less money. Yet at the same time, American manufacturers have actually added nearly a million jobs in the past seven years. And federal statistics show nearly 390,000 such jobs open.
Bu hikaye AppleMagazine dergisinin August 18 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye AppleMagazine dergisinin August 18 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
SENATORS URGE $32 BILLION IN EMERGENCY SPENDING ON AI AFTER FINISHING YEARLONG REVIEW
A bipartisan group of four senators led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is recommending that Congress spend at least $32 billion over the next three years to develop artificial intelligence and place safeguards around it, writing in a new report released Wednesday that the U.S. needs to “harness the opportunities and address the risks” of the quickly developing technology.
THE FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE BUYING YOUR FIRST USED TESLA
It's a good time to be in the market for a used Tesla. Tesla's significant price cuts over the past year on its new cars have caused the prices of used Teslas to drop significantly.
WAYMO IS LATEST COMPANY UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR AUTONOMOUS OR PARTIALLY AUTOMATED TECHNOLOGY
The U.S. government’s highway safety agency has opened another investigation of automated driving systems, this time into crashes involving Waymo’s self-driving vehicles.
YOUNG SOUTH KOREANS ARE INCREASINGLY DRAWN TO BUDDHISM VIA SOCIAL MEDIA-SAVVY INFLUENCERS
A South Korean deejay dressed as a Buddhist monk bounced up and down on stage while playing electronic music and shouting: \"This too shall pass!\"
ROKU WILL STREAM WEEKLY MLB GAME ON SUNDAYS.VIEWERS WON'T NEED ONE OF THE SERVICE'S DEVICES
Roku will carry Major League Baseball games on Sundays beginning this week, and viewers will be able to watch for free and not be required to use a Roku device, the streaming service announced Monday.
WILL AI REPLACE DOCTORS WHO READ X-RAYS, OR JUST MAKE THEM BETTER THAN EVER?
How good would an algorithm have to be to take over your job?
GM'S CRUISE TO START TESTING ROBOTAXIS IN PHOENIX AREA WITH HUMAN SAFETY DRIVERS ON BOARD
General Motors’ troubled Cruise autonomous vehicle unit said it will start testing robotaxis in Arizona this week with human safety drivers on board.
GOOGLE UNLEASHES AI IN SEARCH, RAISING HOPES FOR BETTER RESULTS AND FEARS ABOUT LESS WEB TRAFFIC
Google this week rolled out a retooled search engine that will frequently favor responses crafted by artificial intelligence over website links, a shift promising to quicken the quest for information while also potentially disrupting the flow of money-making internet traffic.
SMALL, WELL-BUILT CHINESE EV CALLED THE SEAGULL POSES A BIG THREAT TO THE US AUTO INDUSTRY
A tiny, low-priced electric car called the Seagull has American automakers and politicians trembling.
INTEL EXEC ON BRINGING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INTO THE WORKPLACE
Artificial intelligence is just about everywhere you look these days — including the workplace.