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The Truth Shall Set You Free
At least we hope so.
Taking the religious to the secular, FactCheck.org’s Brooks Jackson — whom I had the pleasure of interviewing a year-and-a-half ago — publishes, at Newsweek.com, a summary of claims he and his colleagues have “debunked just since Election Day.”
It’s good for Brooks-and-crew, I suppose, that there’s so much bunk around to keep them busy — and good for the rest of us that they’re passionate about (and good at) their jobs.
PS: Here’s the detail on one of my favorites, the myth of the $70-per-hour wages earned by UAW members.
5 Responses to “The Truth Shall Set You Free”
Recommended: “True Enough, Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society” by Farhad Manjoo.
If not Truth, then “truthiness” will have to suffice.
Pete – you are correct that too many people confuse the concept of labor costs per hour vs. wages paid per hour. However, that doesn't remove the fact that US car makers labor cost per hour is much higher.
The total weighted labor costs per hour for Toyota, Honda and Nissan are $44, compared to the $73 per hour for the US manufacturers. Also, the average number of hours per car is also in favor of the Japanese.
What is the bottom line? US makers lose money, about $1,000, on every car sold, Japanese manufacturers make about $1,500 per car sold. But it is not all in the labor costs, as you say, but they are a significant part of controllable costs. Not all costs are as controllable, such as the cost of steel for instance.
But if we are talking about saving the US car industry, we cannot pretend those legacy labor costs that burden US manufacturers are non-existent or trivial. Other changes need to occur as well, but labor costs need to be reduced.
Management, especially middle-management, would be another prime target area, if I were Car Czar along with more automation of the assembly line process. I would increase spending on quality control, and give it real teeth within the organization as well.
Your right that calling it wage costs is misleading. Of course it's just as misleading to dismiss to number without acknowledging that is labor costs and it does impact the viability of the US auto maker, GM at least.
if I were Car Czar along with more automation of the assembly line process.
I believe that the US auto industry is quite automated. As far as robots go, the US is second only to Japan.
http://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle.aspx?Ar…
http://www.automationworld.com/feature-1946
Automation isn't the end all, maintaing robots and sophisticated automation is labor intensive.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=…
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