The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
PPE helps revive factory jobs
Manufacturing jobs nationwide are starting to come back from their pandemic nosedive. But as factories start bringing back workers laid off at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, some are retooling to meet coronavirus-related demand for personal protective equipment (PPE).
The situation
Manufacturing jobs increased in May and June to about the level they were five years ago as the recovery took hold, according to a Stateline analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. But more layoffs could still be coming as a result of new shutdowns in response to the latest wave of coronavirus cases. And some industries may have trouble regaining their footing in the aftermath of virus-spawned economic upheaval.
What’s being done
Some states are trying to boost manufacturing job numbers by helping factories reach out to potential customers of barriers, masks and other PPE. California helped create an online marketplace for that purpose in June, and similar markets were set up with state help in Missouri, Indiana
and Ohio.
Last month, Indiana began offering $4 million in “manufacturing readiness” grants to help factories modernize or start making emergency health care supplies related to the coronavirus.
Automotive plants large and
small have been turning to PPE as a side job.
Cadillac Parts, a parts supplier near Detroit, began making hospital gowns when managers heard local hospitals were in desperate need.
Auto plants in Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Tennessee now manufacture face shields and ventilators. passed laws or issued an executive order to limit liability during the pandemic, and three more are considering it.
Iowa enacted a law in June shielding manufacturers of coronavirus-related protective equipment from personal injury or death lawsuits unless they’re based on “recklessness or willful misconduct.”
Automotive manufacturers across the country, including makers of parts and supplies, are having the most trouble bouncing back.
After a huge drop, the sector added about 35,000 jobs in May, a slight improvement that will be hard to sustain with a worldwide glut of unsold cars, said William Spriggs, chief economist for the AFL-CIO and a former assistant labor secretary in the Obama administration.
“The drop in demand has been more precipitous than the Great Recession,” Spriggs said. “Unlike the Great Recession, the headwinds now are more like a hurricane.”