Manufacturing Workers Face Financial Difficulties

A study conducted by UC Berkeley's Labor Center found that many Americans who hold manufacturing jobs aren't paid enough to stay off public assistance.

The study was a topic of conversation on National Public Radio.

NPR's Linda Wertheimer profiled Yvonne Wade, a 31-year old resident of Lorain, Ohio, who makes $9.50 per hour and lives in a subsidized home, receiving energy assistance, food stamps and medical benefits.

"You know how people live paycheck to paycheck? I feel like — I don't know how I'm doing it, but I'm living with less than that," she said.

Wade is not alone, as one-third of families who work in a manufacturing company in a non-supervising role need at least one public safety-net program.

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The author of the Labor Center's study, Ken Jacobs, told Wertheimer, "We were looking at manufacturing production workers. These are the jobs that used to be a pathway into the middle class for people who didn't have a college education. If we go back 20 years, the jobs paid greater than the median wage for all the occupations. Now 1 in 4 are paid less than $11.91 an hour."

Jacobs also found that assemblers and fabricators who are hired directly from the company earn a little over $15 an hour. However, workers who are hired through staffing agencies, earn on average $10.88 an hour.

There is some good news. Jacobs also found that there are some good manufacturing jobs if they are non-unionized. However, there are "more and more" jobs that pay low wages.