Manufacturing Jobs Growing, Wages Lag
Manufacturing employment in Georgia increased last year, reaching
595,400 in December 1998, an increase of half a percent over a year ago. In contrast,
manufacturing employment has declined in the nation (see Chart 1.1) and in the Southeast.
Average hourly earnings for manufacturing employees in Georgia also
have risen, hitting $12.23 per hour in December, a 2.43 percent increase over one year
ago. Georgia wages are still more than a dollar below the average for the nation and
slightly below the average for the Southeast. The gap between Georgia and U.S.
manufacturing wages remained constant in 1998. One reason for the difference in wages and
jobs may be that Georgia manufacturers have been relatively slow to adopt cutting-edge
technologies.
Chart 1.1
Benchmarking German Manufacturing Technology Use
Modern technologies and best-practice production, management, and quality methods are
essential ingredients for Georgia manufacturers to succeed in today's competitive markets.
This spotlight benchmarks use of modern technologies and practices by Georgia capital
goods manufacturers (for example, metal-working, industrial machinery, automotive,
instrumentation) against use by similar German firms.
We compared responses to the 1996 Georgia Manufacturing Survey,
conducted by Georgia Tech, with responses to the 1995 Innovations in Production Survey
conducted in Germany by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (see
Chart 1.2). A higher percentage of German manufacturers reported using "hard"
technologies (such as CAD/CAE, NC/CNC, CIM), and some "soft" practices (such as
manufacturing cells, ISO 9000, ISO 14000) than did Georgia manufacturers. In contrast, a
higher percentage of Georgia manufacturers reported using certain other "soft"
practices such as employee teams and just-in-time delivery to customers. Research has
shown that use of computers and other hard technologies is more closely tied to higher
productivity than is use of soft practices.
Chart 1.2
