New Baby Boom . . .
Will It Bring Manufacturing Back?

Demographic analyst, Kenneth W. Gronbach, CEO of KGC Direct says he thinks the new Baby Boom happening now, will result in manufacturing coming back to the U.S., Industry Week reports.  In 2007 the U.S. broke a 50-year record of live births with 4,315,000 recorded.  An annual birth rate of this magnitude has not been seen in America since the middle of the original Baby Boom years.  In 1957, 4,300,000 live births were recorded.

“This bodes well for the future of the United States.  The dramatic rise in our country’s birth rate will bring industry back home.  I believe we will have a large, sophisticated, competitive workforce that sets us apart from other Western countries.  This is huge,” Gronbach said.

Gronbach anticipates a resurgence of domestic manufacturing.  He notes that China, who is the top competitor to the U.S. in the number of births, is systematically eliminating its labor force with its one-child policy.  He also points out that other nations are facing declining birth rates as well.

Looking at China, Gronbach notes that increased shipping costs, inflation, a weak U.S. dollar and high energy costs, all of which will make China’s manufactured products cost more in the U.S., will help bring back domestic manufacturing.

Gronbach said he expects that 2007 is not a freak occurrence, but part of a significant and growing trend toward having bigger families in the U.S.  This is something that isn’t happening around the world.  In Italy for example, the birth rate has reduced so significantly, their government has given couples a cash incentive to reproduce.

Generation Y, defined by Gronbach as having been born between 1985-2010, will be 100 million people, 20 million more than the Baby Boom generation.  “This will provide a large and savvy workforce, the best the nation has ever seen,” said Gronbach.  “Our technical schools will be filled with the best and the brightest.”