Did the GM Bailout Really Save American Jobs? April 19, 2010

Favorite:

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/03/27/The_Future_of_Manufacturing_in_the_US_and_Europe

Wilfried Porth, member of the Board of Management at Daimler AG, cautions against the assumption that the GM bailout saved American jobs. He warns legislators against subsidizing the auto industry to the same extent as of the commercial airline industry.

-----

The recent economic crisis has accelerated long-run trends by which, over the course of decades, the industrial base in the United States and the European Union has been undergoing a radical restructuring. Globalization, competition from emerging and developing economies, and technological advances have led significant manufacturing employment declines in parts of Europe and the United States. Last year, the United States saw an estimated one-percent drop in its industrial capacity, the largest annual decrease on record, with goods-producing businesses shedding some 2.3 million jobs. In addition, investments in both the United States and Europe into R&D and plants and equipment have decreased, potentially threatening the long-term competitiveness and employment prospects of the U.S. and EU industrial base.

"Postindustrialism" has been held up as the new route to prosperity, but one of the obvious advantages of manufacturing is that it creates jobs for a wide range of people—both in heavy industries like the steel and automotive industries as well as high-tech industries like semiconductors or value-added chemicals. At a time when the recession has amplified the challenges for manufacturing employment on both sides of the Atlantic, it is important to review the long-term future of the manufacturing sector in the United States and Europe. - German Marshall Fund

Wilfried Porth has been a member of the board of management of Daimler AG since April 8, 2009, and is currently responsible for human resources. He is also director of labor relations for the company and has been responsible for IT since May 1, 2009. Mr. Porth was born in Baden-Baden on February 2, 1959. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Stuttgart from 1981-85 and graduated as an engineer. He then joined the central production engineering department of Daimler-Benz AG as a planning engineer in 1985. Throughout his career, Mr. Porth has held several management and executive positions within the company.