Washington, DC, Jan. 19--A rebounding factory sector should generate about 250,000 jobs in 2004, barely denting the huge losses it has suffered since its peak, the National Association of Manufacturers said late last week in its annual economic forecast.
"Manufacturing has lost 2.8 million jobs, and it is doubtful if more than half of those jobs will return any time soon," NAM President Jerry Jasinowski said in a statement.
"Our scenario sees an increase of 250,000 manufacturing jobs over the next 12 months with the biggest gains in fabricated metals, electronics and industrial equipment," he added. NAM predicted that manufacturing output would rise by more than six percent in 2004 vs. 1.4 percent last year.
"Thanks largely to the realignment of the dollar to its 30-year average, along with improving economic growth abroad, we expect export growth to triple from three percent in 2003 to nine percent in 2004," Jasinowski added.
Before the dollar's recent slide, NAM was a vocal critic of the Treasury Department's so-called strong dollar policy which the group said hurt the ability of U.S. exporters to compete with goods from countries with weaker currencies.
Manufacturers have enjoyed a reprieve on the currency front recently with the dollar last year tumbling some 17 percent against the euro, hit by low U.S. interest rates and the wide current account deficit.
