“Out of Work Yet? Keep Buying Foreign!”
You’ve probably seen that bumper sticker. Maybe you even have one. But like so many ideologies compressed into slogans (“Make American Great Again!”), this one is grossly misleading.
Case in point: The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) recently released its 2015 advance contributions data, emphasizing the positive impact Japanese-brand automakers have on the U.S. economy.
According to JAMA, its members’ cumulative manufacturing investment in the U.S. amounts to USD$45.4 billion. In addition, the organization state that 75 percent of Japanese-brand vehicles sold in the U.S. are produced in North America.
The data is summarized in this table released by the organization:
For example, here’s a comparison of the number of U.S. employees working in JAMA members’ manufacturing, R&D, headquarters, sales and other and dealerships:
There’s a significant disparity between the number of direct employees working for JAMA members and those working at dealerships. In fact, direct employees make up only 19 percent of the total.
Hence, the statement by JAMA USA general director Manny Manriquez that JAMA members “provided an all-time high of more than 460,000 US jobs in 2015,” should be taken with a grain of salt, especially given the franchise model of dealerships.
Some skepticism should also be reserved for the claim that 75 percent of Japanese-brand vehicles sold in the U.S. are made in North America, since that includes vehicles produced in Canada and Mexico as well.
Many automakers have opted for Mexican manufacturing in recent years, including not only JAMA members but other major players like Ford, Kia and Volkswagen. The recently opened USD$1 billion Kia plant in Nuevo Leon is planned to be the company’s production base for 300,000 cars per year, 80 percent of which will be exported.
On the other hand, it’s not as though JAMA members have been neglecting US manufacturing. Four vehicle plants—two for Toyota, one for Hino and one for Honda—have been opened in Texas, Mississippi, West Virginia and Indiana in the last decade alone.
All of this goes to show that debates about manufacturing are never as simple as a bumper sticker slogan.
For more information, visit the JAMA website.