Washington, D.C. — High interest rates are bludgeoning American manufacturing despite the promise of record factory construction. U.S. factories lost 24,000 jobs in August, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.
“Even though there’s basically record factory construction in the United States, those jobs aren’t built yet, those factories are still being constructed. So, we’re at a point where the interest rate cuts could really be beneficial to spurring some capital investment in manufacturing, to spur some more consumer incentives in the United States,” Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul said on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on Friday. “But, I think it proves the point that we’ve been saying all along that the Federal Reserve’s action has had an outsized impact on the fortunes of manufacturing, so I’m hoping they will act decisively with a big rate cut the next time they meet.”
The Federal Reserve is scheduled to meet on Sept. 17 with a policy announcement expected on Sept. 18.
Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul is available for interview.
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