Manzullo says Congress must act to save suburban jobs

WASHINGTON _ If Congress doesn't do something fast to strengthen the U.S. manufacturing industry, Chicago's suburbs and Illinois as a whole could be among the biggest losers, a suburban Republican congressman says.

Rep. Don Manzullo, of Egan, says the Obama administration isn't doing enough to protect manufacturing from moving China and India, countries where the economies have been booming despite the massive U.S. and world recession, and where production is often much cheaper.

If that all seems unrelated to suburban daily life, take a look at the statistics, he says. In McHenry County, for example, 17 percent of the workers are employed in manufacturing jobs.

“U.S. manufacturing is still under siege at home and abroad and we have to come together to champion the necessity for a strong manufacturing sector in America,” Manzullo said.

One potential key to the U.S. maintaining its role as a powerful player in the world economy is to hold on to its top export: high-end computer chips. These chips are the technology that runs your laptops, computers and cell phones, for example. The U.S. manufactures 80 percent of the world's computer chips, and China is its biggest importer.

Yet as the U.S. economy has lost momentum, companies that produce the chips lose incentives to stay in the U.S. and gain incentives to work someplace where production is cheaper, such as China.

In Illinois, 55 companies identify themselves as suppliers of semiconductors, the foundation of high-end computer chips. Many of these companies are located in the Chicago suburbs.

To help strengthen the manufacturing sector, in Illinois and the nation as a whole, Manzullo resurrected a 2003 bipartisan House Manufacturing Caucus last week with Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio. The caucus has accumulated at least 78 members on both sides of the aisle, including U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, a Western Springs Democrat.

The caucus aims to provide congressmen with information to help constituents and spur job creation in manufacturing and associated industries by hosting discussions with industry experts and disseminating information.

Manzullo says there are 250,000 unfilled manufacturing jobs in the U.S.