|
Tricia Rosenberg, an employee of Olsen Uniparts in Eldridge, measures a part from an piece of construction equipment. (John Schultz / Quad-City Times)
|
|
Jennifer DeWitt
Manufacturing, which has long been the backbone of the Quad-City workforce, again is flexing its muscle as area employers expand and rebuild their ranks.
The economic downturn of recent years brought layoffs, reductions in hours and some hiring freezes as manufacturers worked to align output with reduced demand.
“I think companies are still cautious, but they’re starting to get going again,” said Mark Kapfer, Eastern Iowa Community College’s executive director for economic development. “But if you don’t have skills, you better get them.”
Dr. Bruce Storey, Black Hawk College’s director of educational services, agreed.
“While the unemployment rate is getting better, we’ve noticed it’s getting better for the people with degrees. Someone with a high school diploma, a GED or no work experience is having a terrible time. The AA (associate’s degree) is the new high school degree.”
The two educators said the jobs most in demand among Quad-City manufacturers are for CNC (computerized numerical control) operators, engineering technicians, welders, mechanical maintenance and electrical maintenance workers.
“If you want to be in manufacturing, the way I’d go is CNC. That’s the hot job,” Storey said. “Some people are just afraid of the math and the computers.”
Tara Barney, chief executive officer of the Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce, said the growth in the manufacturing sector comes as companies add jobs at a modest rate.
“But they’re adding high-quality jobs and when they have a client with a specific need,” she said.
Citing data from a Quad-City laborshed study, Barney said manufacturing jobs saw an increase in the laborshed from between 73,000 and 74,000 in 2010 to “85,508 in 2012, precisely.”
The laborshed, which is much larger than the four-county metropolitan statistical area, takes in a 70-mile radius around the Quad-Cities in Iowa and Illinois from which the metro Quad-Cities draws its workforce. Barney said the laborshed also shows average annual manufacturing salaries jumped from $65,000 in 2010 to $80,000 in 2012.
But job-seekers serious about a manufacturing career will need to bring higher skills to the table — be it through associate’s degrees, apprentice programs, certificates or other training.
Tricia Rosenberg of Annawan, Ill., knows that first-hand. After pursing CNC training at Eastern Iowa Community College’s Blong Technology Center, she landed a production job at Uniparts Olsen in Eldridge.
After a couple of years of running a CNC and a lathe, she has been promoted to educational training coordinator.
“I love this. It is so hands-on and different every day,” she said.
Rosenberg, 31, trains her co-workers to read parts blueprints and to do programming, some of the same skills she teaches students at the Blong Center, where she is a part-time adjunct instructor.
“It’s not the old thinking where it used to be a boys club,” she said of the manufacturing sector. Although she followed her father into manufacturing, the industry is opening up to more women and attracting others who had once been scared away because of the thought that it was heavy lifting, she said.
At Uniparts Olsen, she said wages range from $10 to $13 an hour for manufacturing jobs and $11.50 to $14 for CNC jobs. Those with more training and experience often get hired first and earn the higher wages, she said.
Looking ahead, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates employment of manufacturing maintenance and repair workers is expected to grow 11 percent during the 2008-2018 decade.
Data from Eastern Iowa Community College indicates general maintenance and repair workers can expect median hourly wages of $16.21 an hour. Here are some of the other starting hourly wages: mechanical design technology $16.33; electromechanical systems $18.60; renewable energy systems specialist $11.78; industrial engineering technology/CNC machining $13.87; welding $12.73; and logistics/supply chain $12.33.
Additionally, Black Hawk College said these are annual salaries for other related jobs: welders, $35,000-$40,000; CNC, $40,000 and up; and engineering technician, $35,000 to $55,000 depending on the career.
“Fifty years ago, you got out of high school, went to Deere and stayed there for your whole life,” Storey said. “That doesn’t happen anymore.”
The New Global Demand for Made in USA
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamNot only did U.S. exports outpace the growth of imports in 2012 for the first time since 2007, exports have helped support creation of more than 6 million private sector jobs during the past 35 months. So how does this relate to the business climate here in Salt Lake City? Simple: Our nation’s success with exports has in part been driven by business owners in the Beehive State.
Take, for example, Albion Minerals of Clearfield. One year ago, the company participated in a trade mission to Vietnam that was organized by a collaboration of public and private sector groups, including the state government, the U.S. Commercial Service of Utah, and our strategic partner Zions Bank. The company has since opened a distribution center in Vietnam in a $100,000 deal and expects to see profits grow.
As we mark the third anniversary of the National Export Initiative, a program launched by President Obama to expand exports and support an increase of 2 million jobs here at home, we do have something to celebrate. U.S. exports grew by almost $100 billion from 2011 to 2012, reaching a record $2.2 trillion. And exports supported 1.3 million more jobs between 2009 and 2012, more than 60 percent toward our goal.
We’re also seeing progress as we mark the first anniversary this month of the United States-Korea Trade Agreement, which opened market access for U.S. businesses to a rapidly growing Asian economy.
In the president’s recent State of the Union speech, he announced his intent to launch talks with the European Union to forge a transatlantic trade and investment partnership, an agreement that can impact almost half of the world¹s economic activity. (The U.S. and the E.U. represent the largest economic relationship in the world. Our joint gross domestic product accounts for 45 percent of global GDP and includes more than 800 million consumers.)
A comprehensive trade agreement with our transatlantic partners, along with those with whom we are negotiating in the Asia-Pacific region and an international services trade agreement will be good for American businesses and workers. Communities around Clearfield and across the country can trust that smart, responsible, job-focused trade agreements support good-paying jobs for workers here in Utah. I look forward to working with my colleagues throughout the Obama administration to continue to pursue trade policies that help American companies compete.
Francisco J. Sánchez is the under secretary of commerce for international trade. He leads the International Trade Administration, a federal agency with that promotes U.S. businesses and global competitiveness.
How 108 Year Old J.W. Hulme Is Reinvesting In America’s Manufacturing Roots
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamTimes were tough for Guarino and Hulme, a company that in five years she’d grown from losses on revenues of $450,000 to a profitable $1.4 million. And while she couldn’t have imagined during those dark days that a Wall Street Journal write up of her flailing company would have been the beacon that attracted the investor who saved J.W. Hulme, she absolutely wouldn’t have dreamt of the challenge that she faces today.
The company, it should be known, is doing incredibly well these days—luxury luggage and handbags are sold through catalogues, showrooms and high-end retailers like Barneys to the tune of $5 million projected revenues this year. What’s the problem then? Despite the success and ever-growing clamor for her company’s products, Guarino is plagued by an aging workforce and serious dearth of trained artisans and sewers to replace them. She’s got a great product that’s selling like hot-cakes, but when it comes to finding employees to manufacture it in her St. Paul factory, she’s coming up short.
The manufacturing floor of J.W. Hulme, where artisans manufacture more than 250 leather and canvas products from small leather goods to luxury luggage, has been dominated by baby boomers and their parents for the past decade. “We have a good chunk of sewers that are 55 plus,” she says. “But what seems to have happened is that a whole generation has been skipped in the workforce. When manufacturing started going to China, America stopped investing in training in trades, and we’re seeing the repercussions of that in U.S. factories who are trying to stay alive.”
When she looked to her right and her left at chamber of commerce and trade organization meetings in the upper Midwest, Guarino quickly found that she wasn’t alone. The complaint in the Minnesota manufacturing community—once a hotbed of outerwear and shoe manufacturing — was unanimous: not only were business owners unable to find enough skilled workers to meet demand, they were missing out on contracts because of it. “We’re turning down work,” they told her. “We get called all the time to bring production back to the states and we can’t take it.”
Their workforces were simply maxed out. “None of it was about money or equipment,” Guarino says. In every conversation, the pain point was about finding skilled labor.
But rather than resign themselves to defeat, Guarino, an executive with a fine-art background who has come to consider herself a “guardian of trade” and a band of 20 local business owners in the cut-and-sew industry, have banded together to form The Maker’s Coalition. Guarino describes it as a hands-on movement to revitalize the industrial sewing heritage of the Midwest, but stresses that it’s a model that could easily be brought to other nascent manufacturing hubs around the country. “We’re working together to find, train and employ a workforce for today,” she says, “And for future generations.”
Guarino, the former brand manager for The Sak, moved to Minnesota in 2000 for love and had long dreamt of building her own company from the ground up. “That [relationship]ended, but I stayed,” she says, and she was working as a consultant in St. Paul when her future business partner, Bidwell, came to her with a unique opportunity. “He handed me this one inch by one inch classified he’d found in the paper that read ‘Bag company approaching 100 years old needs capital partner.’” A bag company? In St. Paul? Guarino says she felt her future become clear.
Guarino set the company on an upstream path with just two years to go before Hulme’s 100th anniversary. She was impressed, more than anything else, by the skill-level of the artisans and sewers in the factory, and decided to cut private label manufacturing from the company’s books. “Rather than continuing to compete with Orvis, we started working with leathers, picking better materials, we expanded and upgraded in every way possible.” By 2006 the company had turned a profit on revenues of $1.4 million—up 89% in the three years under Guarino’s leadership.
Getting those employees back on the floor in the fall of 2009 after Olympus revived J.W. Hulme with a $550,000 investment (Guarino and Bidwell retain a 35% stake) was of the utmost importance. Olympus expected a profitable Holiday season, and were particularly optimistic about the company’s positioning as a home-grown brand. “I’m always interested in companies that actually make things in the U.S,” said Olympus CEO Dean Vanech at the time. “And the Americana theme is really strong right now in retail, so I think this is a good time for Hulme.”
But the increased focus on made in America goods was more than just a retail trend—and Guarino credits the movement across industries with the energy and excitement behind her initiative to retrain Americans in traditional craftsmanship. Along with the Maker’s Coalition (and with funding from The United Way) she has led the charge in cre
ating cur
riculum at local community colleges that she believes will be the answer to her own business needs as well as the industry’s. “And that’s not even going into how many kids are graduating from college with no job prospects and mountains of debts,” she says as an aside. The low-cost 22-week program established in St. Paul costs students just $3,800. The first class will graduate this May.
“Look, what this is really about is being able to say yes when someone calls us wanting to bring their manufacturing business back to the U.S.,” Guarino says. “I’m not a purist. I’m not saying that everything in our homes should be made in the U.S.A and I’m not saying we could produce every shirt in WalMart. I know we can’t! But if we can train workers well enough to be able to bring even 10% of the manufacturing industry back to the country, the economic impact would be undeniable.”
Consumers May Be Fooled By Deceptive Labels
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamSubway has long promoted its footlong sandwiches. So when customers caught the company serving shorter sandwiches, they took their complaints to Facebook, garnering media attention.
The Colbert Report’s Stephen Colbert was among those who spoke out.
“We have been five-dollar footwronged!” Colbert had said at the time.
Subway has since issued the following statement:
“We have redoubled our efforts to ensure consistency and correct length in every sandwich we serve.”
Consumer Reports found other products that disappointed customers, too.
The Allergy Luxe Premium Bed Bug Mattress Protector boasts that it provides “luxurious fabric protection against bed bugs, dust mites & allergens.”
Consumer Reports learned this was not the case.
“If you turn the package over and read the fine print at the bottom, it says ‘the manufacturer makes no claim that this product will prevent or inhibit human exposure to insects, allergens, mold or other microbial matter,'” said Tod Marks, Consumer Reports.
The packaging for the Cuddly Sherpa Throw shows cute lambs. But upon closer examination, the label says it is made from “100% polyester.”
Looking for products that are made in America can be confusing as well.
“Just because you see a symbol like an American flag doesn’t mean it was American-made at all,” said Marks. The American Glove Company says “We Glove The USA.” But the label says otherwise; it’s made in Vietnam.
One would assume the dish towels made by American Mills were also manufactured in the U.S. They’re actually made in China.
Unfortunately, confusing words and images aren’t necessarily forbidden by the Federal Trade Commission, which is responsible for monitoring deceptive product claims.
“What would a reasonable consumer think, they ask. And even there it’s not clear cut,” said Marks.
Reading labels closely is a good habit to get into. Consumer Reports says if you believe you’ve been mislead about a product, complain to the manufacturer directly. You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.ftc.gov.
Morning News Beat Walmart Watch
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamAn excerpt: “While global sourcing remains a significant source of EDLC opportunity, we believe that the $50B commitment to increase domestic sourcing over the next decade should benefit topline and profitability at WMT U.S.
“Domestic sourcing will help the company avoid wage inflation overseas and shipping costs, while increasing flexibility through shorter lead times and generating positive reputational buzz. WMT U.S. kicked off the initiative this week with Georgia state sourced towels, priced at $8.97 for bath size. They are offered in 600 stores and will be in an additional 600 stores by Sept., supported by local marketing.”
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin Stumps for Bill Requiring National Manufacturing Strategy
in Uncategorized/by MAM Team“In the 1970s, when I was just a young congressman, almost 20 million Americans were employed directly in manufacturing and represented over 20 percent of our non-farm work force in America,” Harkin said. “Today, that number has fallen to about 12 million and only 9 percent of all non-farm workers in America.
“You might say ‘as manufacturing goes, so goes the economy.’ As manufacturing employment has fallen, we’ve seen wages stagnate, our trade deficit increase, unionization rates plummet and less domestic innovation.”
Harkin said that trend also has played out in Iowa with the loss of almost 50,000 manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2010.
“Many have pointed to factors like technology change and globalization as causes for these trends, but keep in mind that those factors also have been affecting manufacturing in other countries,” Harkin added. “I tend think that the lack of a coherent manufacturing strategy to harness the power of technological changes and respond to globalization has made it harder for American manufacturers to compete.
“The United States is one of the only developed nations without a national manufacturing strategy.”
Harkin’s bill would require the president to identify sectors and emerging technologies in which U.S. manufacturing can grow and be most competitive internationally. It also would require the executive branch to survey the policies in place across the federal government that affect U.S. manufacturing and compare those policies other countries have in place to support their manufacturing sectors.
The president also would recommend to Congress policies and actions to support American manufacturing. Harkin said that might involve changes in regulations, taxation and trade policy.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, has introduced an identical proposal in the House of Representatives. Harkin believes the bills have a good chance of passing both chambers and moving to President Obama for his signature.
Harkin toured American Profol, which employs about 80 to produce polypropylene films used for adhesive-coated tapes, heat-sealed bags, printed banners, DVD case overlays, multi-layer laminates, automotive and construction films and magazine overwraps.
American Profol President Mark Thoeny said a spike in orders prompted the manufacturer to add a sixth production line in 2011 at a cost of $13 million. He said it became clear that customers had ordered too much inventory in anticipation of an economic recovery.
Maybe Manufacturing Jobs Still Pay More
in Uncategorized/by MAM Team“When you’re trying to compare apples to apples,” Doms said, “you do see this manufacturing wage premium [has] been robust over time.”
Manufacturing has been a rare success industry in the recovery from the Great Recession, adding 500,000 jobs since the end of 2009. President Obama often hails it as a vehicle for middle-class prosperity.
From the mid-1970s to the eve of the recession, non-supervisory workers in manufacturing earned more per hour on average than the national average for all industries. During the recession and in the years that followed, however, hourly manufacturing pay fell behind the national average. In January, the average hourly wage for a manufacturing production worker was $19.23, compared with $19.97 for the private sector as a whole.
Commerce economists say the full picture is more complicated — and more favorable to manufacturing. They calculated in a report last year that medical and retirement benefits are 60 percent more lucrative per hour for factory workers than non-factory workers. When they compared workers with similar skills across industries, they found wages and benefits added up to a 17 percent advantage for manufacturing employees, an advantage that has held even as industry employment has shifted away from union jobs to lower-paying nonunion ones.
Doms says there are several explanations for that premium. Factory employees tend to work more hours per week and more weeks per year than other workers, he said, a difference that adds up — just like the compensation premium — to 17 percent.
If you include supervisors, who earn more than non-supervisory workers, factory employees earn more per hour than non-factory ones, he said.
Perhaps the simplest, time-tested explanation for why manufacturing jobs pay a premium is that the industry boasts consistently high productivity. There was new evidence of that in Labor Department statistics released Thursday. They showed manufacturing productivity increased by 2.2 percent last year, compared with 0.7 percent for the private sector as a whole.
Correspondingly, real hourly compensation for factory workers rose 0.2 percent for the year. Across the entire private sector, that compensation fell by 0.6 percent.
Manufacturing Sector Rebounds
in Uncategorized/by MAM Team“I think companies are still cautious, but they’re starting to get going again,” said Mark Kapfer, Eastern Iowa Community College’s executive director for economic development. “But if you don’t have skills, you better get them.”
Dr. Bruce Storey, Black Hawk College’s director of educational services, agreed.
“While the unemployment rate is getting better, we’ve noticed it’s getting better for the people with degrees. Someone with a high school diploma, a GED or no work experience is having a terrible time. The AA (associate’s degree) is the new high school degree.”
The two educators said the jobs most in demand among Quad-City manufacturers are for CNC (computerized numerical control) operators, engineering technicians, welders, mechanical maintenance and electrical maintenance workers.
“If you want to be in manufacturing, the way I’d go is CNC. That’s the hot job,” Storey said. “Some people are just afraid of the math and the computers.”
Tara Barney, chief executive officer of the Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce, said the growth in the manufacturing sector comes as companies add jobs at a modest rate.
“But they’re adding high-quality jobs and when they have a client with a specific need,” she said.
Citing data from a Quad-City laborshed study, Barney said manufacturing jobs saw an increase in the laborshed from between 73,000 and 74,000 in 2010 to “85,508 in 2012, precisely.”
The laborshed, which is much larger than the four-county metropolitan statistical area, takes in a 70-mile radius around the Quad-Cities in Iowa and Illinois from which the metro Quad-Cities draws its workforce. Barney said the laborshed also shows average annual manufacturing salaries jumped from $65,000 in 2010 to $80,000 in 2012.
But job-seekers serious about a manufacturing career will need to bring higher skills to the table — be it through associate’s degrees, apprentice programs, certificates or other training.
Tricia Rosenberg of Annawan, Ill., knows that first-hand. After pursing CNC training at Eastern Iowa Community College’s Blong Technology Center, she landed a production job at Uniparts Olsen in Eldridge.
After a couple of years of running a CNC and a lathe, she has been promoted to educational training coordinator.
“I love this. It is so hands-on and different every day,” she said.
Rosenberg, 31, trains her co-workers to read parts blueprints and to do programming, some of the same skills she teaches students at the Blong Center, where she is a part-time adjunct instructor.
“It’s not the old thinking where it used to be a boys club,” she said of the manufacturing sector. Although she followed her father into manufacturing, the industry is opening up to more women and attracting others who had once been scared away because of the thought that it was heavy lifting, she said.
At Uniparts Olsen, she said wages range from $10 to $13 an hour for manufacturing jobs and $11.50 to $14 for CNC jobs. Those with more training and experience often get hired first and earn the higher wages, she said.
Looking ahead, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates employment of manufacturing maintenance and repair workers is expected to grow 11 percent during the 2008-2018 decade.
Data from Eastern Iowa Community College indicates general maintenance and repair workers can expect median hourly wages of $16.21 an hour. Here are some of the other starting hourly wages: mechanical design technology $16.33; electromechanical systems $18.60; renewable energy systems specialist $11.78; industrial engineering technology/CNC machining $13.87; welding $12.73; and logistics/supply chain $12.33.
Additionally, Black Hawk College said these are annual salaries for other related jobs: welders, $35,000-$40,000; CNC, $40,000 and up; and engineering technician, $35,000 to $55,000 depending on the career.
“Fifty years ago, you got out of high school, went to Deere and stayed there for your whole life,” Storey said. “That doesn’t happen anymore.”
“Buying American” Generally Matters More to Women Than Men
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamOn each count, 18-35-year-olds were significantly less likely than any other generation to believe that “buying American” is important to them.
The survey finds that the definition of what constitutes “buying American” isn’t universally agreed upon. Three-quarters agree that a product needs to be manufactured within the US for them to consider it “American,” while a slight majority believe that it needs to be made by an American company for them to consider it “American.” Close behind, 47% agree that a product needs to be made from parts produced in the US for them to consider it “American.”
As the researchers note, the company perceived by respondents to be the most “American” – Ford – increasingly has cars which include parts produced abroad. Other companies showing up in the most “American” list – such as GE and Levi Strauss – also outsource some of their operations overseas.
Regardless of the extent to which these companies’ products meet consumer definitions, “Made in America” packaging can influence consumers. A study released last year by Perception Research Services found that about 8 in 10 shoppers notice “Made in the USA” claims in packaging, and about three-quarters of those believe that such claims make them more likely to buy the product.
According to the Harris survey results, the most commonly-cited important reasons for “buying American” are to keep jobs in America (90%), to support American companies (87%), and due to quality (83%) and safety (82%) concerns with products assembled outside of the US.
About the Data: The Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between December 12 and 18, 2012 among 2,176 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.
Data for the “What company do you consider to be most ‘American’” question was conducted online within the United States between January 2 and 4, 2012 among 2,126 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.
Europeans Want U.S. to Ditch “Buy American” Rules
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamIt’s not surprising that Europe wants to replace U.S. businesses and workers in government contracts. The U.S. federal government is the biggest consumer in the world… and when you add in the state and local governments, it’s really big. From the U.S. side there is simply no way we’d come away with a net benefit with theoretical market access by our so-called “U.S.” multinationals (who don’t really consider themselves U.S. anymore) to other smaller government procurement markets. It simply doesn’t ever work that way.
I’m not sure where the Obama Administration is coming from on this. The biggest source of jobs and growth will come from reducing the trade deficit. We had a record $735B goods trade deficit last year, including a $300B goods deficit with China. Trade deals simply don’t help the trade deficit, usually make things worse, and tie our hands for fixing the problem.
The Global Push for American Made
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamNot only did U.S. exports outpace the growth of imports in 2012 for the first time since 2007, but exports have helped support the creation of more than 6 million private-sector jobs during the past 35 months. The world wants what America makes.
So how does this relate to the business climate here in Charleston? Simple: Our nation’s success with exports has in part been driven by business owners right here in this state.
Take, for example, Florence-based Carbis Inc., which has worked with the U.S. Commercial Service of S.C. to export goods and establish a stronger presence in China, Japan and India. Through this partnership, Carbis has established an outpost in China, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The company has also expanded its sales to Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia — and reports an increase in year-over-year export sales.
I’m looking forward to joining the Charleston community at a March 20 event to celebrate these and other local efforts to power our nation’s economy through exporting and improved trade relations.
As we mark the third anniversary of the National Export Initiative — a program launched by President Obama to expand exports and support an increase of 2 million jobs here at home — we do have something to celebrate. U.S. exports grew almost $100 billion from 2011 to 2012, reaching a record $2.2 trillion. And exports supported 1.3 million more jobs between 2009 and 2012 — more than 60% toward our goal.
We’re also seeing progress as we mark the first anniversary this month of the United States-Korea Trade Agreement, which opened market access for U.S. businesses to a rapidly growing Asian economy interested in American products.
The latest development in our work to open more channels for trade came in the president’s recent State of the Union speech. The president announced his intent to launch talks with the European Union to forge a transatlantic trade and investment partnership, an agreement that can impact almost half of the world’s economic activity. The United States and the EU represent the largest economic relationship in the world. Our joint gross domestic product accounts for 45% of global GDP, and includes more than 800 million consumers. A comprehensive trade agreement with our transatlantic partners — along with those with whom we are negotiating in the Asia-Pacific region and an international services trade agreement — will be good for American businesses and American workers, supporting good-paying jobs right here at home.
According to recent data, nearly half of the growth in U.S. exports in 2012 was to countries where we have trade agreements in place. Communities around Charleston and across the country can trust that smart, responsible, job-focused trade agreements are important as they support good-paying jobs for workers here in South Carolina. I look forward to working with my colleagues throughout the Obama Administration to continue to pursue trade policies that help American companies compete in the global marketplace.
Our businesses that create jobs, our workers who are hungry to compete in this global marketplace and this state’s future economic success will all benefit if we do.
Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco J. Sánchez leads the International Trade Administration, a federal agency with commercial offices across the U.S. and the globe that promotes U.S. businesses and global competitiveness. Sánchez will be the keynote speaker during the World Trade Center Charleston: Metro Export Initiative on March 20 at the Charleston Area Convention Center. For more information, click here.