Manufacturing Belt

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Manufacturing Belt, highlighted in red

The Manufacturing Belt, sometimes nicknamed Rust Belt, is an area in parts of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States of America. The region can be broadly defined as the region beginning with the BosWash corridor and running west to eastern Wisconsin. The region extends southward to the beginnings of the coal mining regions of Appalachia, north to the Great Lakes and includes manufacturing regions of southern Ontario in Canada.

Its economic activity forms a significant part of the wealth producing sectors of the American economy including heavy industry, manufacturing, and associated industries. The Midwest region of the United States has a higher employment to population ratio (the number of people employed as a percent of the population) than the Northeast, the South, or the Sun Belt states. ^[1] It is also the focal point on the continent for the automobile industry. Emerging technologies in this region include hydrogen fuel cell development, nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognotechnology. The region is an important source of engineering jobs.

1 Geographic Definition
2 History
3 See also
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Geographic Definition

Although manufacturing exists nationwide, the region is roughly defined as comprising the northern sections of Indiana and Ohio; the southern Lower Peninsula of Michigan; the Lake Michigan shoreline of Wisconsin, especially around Milwaukee; Chicago/northeastern Illinois; upstate New York; New York City and Northern New Jersey; most of Pennsylvania; and the northern part of West Virginia, particularly the Northern Panhandle. Other cities such as Baltimore, Maryland, and Wilmington, Delaware which share important economic characteristics are sometimes included. Saint Louis, Missouri may be considered to a manufacturing center, although the surrounding parts of Missouri and Illinois aren't part of the region.^[2] Cities that focus on wealth consuming activity such as service and government are usually excluded due to insignificant production activity and fewer engineering jobs in these areas. Examples include Boston, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C..

Sometimes, but not always, the adjacent portions of the Canadian province of Ontario (particularly the southern and southwestern parts) are included as well, giving the concept an international dimension. This portion includes heavily industrial centers such as Hamilton, St. Catharines and Windsor, all of which share some characteristics of manufacturing centers across the border.

[edit] History

The area emerged as a center of manufacturing and heavy industry because of its location. Ready sources of coal just to the south in West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky as well as in western and northeastern Pennsylvania; an immigration-driven population boom in the late 19th century; and easy access to shipping on the Great Lakes, and to the East Coast via canals, and later railroads. The region was one of the first in the United States to see railroad service, with some of the earliest railroads such as the Allegheny Portage Railroad located within the region. Coal, iron ore and other raw materials were shipped in from surrounding regions to cities such as Pittsburgh, which became a center of the steel industry. Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit emerged as major ports on the Great Lakes and served as transportation hubs for the region with a proximity to railroad lines.

Since the 1960s, the expansion of worldwide free trade agreements have been less favorable to U.S. workers. Imported goods such as steel cost much less to produce in third world countries with sub-par currency exchange rates and cheap foreign labor. Beginning with the recession of 1970-71, a pattern emerged. Competitive devaluation combined with each successive downturn saw traditional U.S. manufacturing jobs suffer losses. These jobs were often replaced by much lower-paying service sector jobs when the economy recovered. A gradual expansion of the U.S. trade deficit with China began in 1985. Despite U.S. protests, China continues to peg its currency to the dollar at sub-par levels. The U.S government has taken very little action to stop this practice. In the ensuing years the U.S. developed a massive trade deficit with the Asian nations of China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. As a result, the traditional manufacturing workers in economies of Rust Belt states have experienced upheaval when some factories closed. This effect has devastated government budgets across the U.S and increased corporate borrowing to fund retiree benefits. The manufacturing belt is still one of the world's major manufacturing areas and has many new modern factories, some of which use advanced robotized manufacturing.

According to some economists, manufacturing is a wealth producing sector of an economy, whereas a service sector tends to be wealth consuming.^[3] ^[4] Other types of advanced manufacturing have emerged in these states such as biotech, nanotech, infotech, and cognotech. Robotization has led to other types of manufacturing output which require fewer workers with varying skills. Moreover, job gains in these areas have not been nearly enough to keep pace with the devastation caused by the ill fated economic policy wrought by competitive devaluation, currency manipulation and currency pegs. As a result, middle class incomes and savings in the United States have been negatively impacted.

In recent years, many inner city populations in the region have shifted to the suburbs. Examples from the 2000 U.S. Census include Detroit, Flint, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie, Buffalo, Akron, Toledo, Syracuse, St. Louis, Milwaukee and many more, despite revitalized downtown areas.^[5] Northern states have mounted a "Cool Cities" initiative to reverse the trend. The 2004 population estimate showed Rust Belt states averaged less than 2% new growth. Nevertheless, the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Chicago, and New York City have experienced economic growth and urban renewal over the last 25 years.

The region is sometimes called the Frost Belt or the Snowbelt as a way to more directly contrast the term Sun Belt.

The term "Rust Belt" is a neologism created by analogy to Sun Belt, Grain Belt and Bible Belt.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

^ Bureau of Labor Statistics
^ St Louis Escapes Its Rust-Belt Past. NPR, All Things Considered, May 17, 2006. Accessed November 15, 2006.
^ David Friedman, New America Foundation (2002-06-16).No Light at the End of the Tunnel Los Angeles Times.
^ Sir Keith Joseph, Center for Policy Studies (1976-04-05).Stockton Lecture, Monetarism Is Not Enough, with forward by Margaret Thatcher. (Barry Rose Pub.) Margaret Thatcher Foundation (2006).
^ Incorporated Places of 100,000 or More, Ranked by Percent Population Change: 1990-2000 US Census Bureau, Census 2000. Accessed November 16, 2006.

American Steel, Richard Preston (1991), Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-029604-X

[edit] References

Images of the Rust Belt, James Jeffery Higgins (1999), Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-87338-626-4
Industrial Sunset, Steven High (2003), University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-8528-8
People and folks: gangs, crime, and the underclass in a rust- belt city, John Hagedorn and Perry Macon (1988), Lake View Press. ISBN 0-941702-21-9
Reorganizing the Rust Belt, Steven Henry Lopez (2004), University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-23565-7
Revival in the rust belt, Daniel R. Denison and Stuart L. Hill (1987), University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-87944-322-7.