U. S. Losing High Tech Jobs to Asia

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In a trend noted before on this blog, America is losing the race for new high tech - and high paying - jobs which are moving to Asia. Yes, part of the problem is the attractiveness of lower wages in Asia, but the bigger problem is the dumbing down of the American work force. And the trend will likely not improve given the soaring costs of a college education and the continued abysmal showing of the nation's schools in science. The latter situation likely to get worse as lunatic Christianists continue to push to have creationism - i.e., religion - taught instead of hard science. I'm not sure how to turn the situation around, but I do know that the active embrace of ignorance seen with the GOP base and the Christian Right is not the answer for a prosperous America in the future. Here are highlights from a Washington Post story:

The United States lost more than a quarter of its high-tech manufacturing jobs during the past decade as U.S.-based multinational companies placed a growing percentage of their research-and-development operations overseas, the National Science Board reported Tuesday.

The rapid expansion of science and engineering capabilities in China and its neighbors pose a more formidable economic challenge to the United States, according to the group, with Asia rapidly boosting the number of engineering doctorates it produces and research dollars it spends.

The report comes as the Obama administration is seeking to make U.S. manufacturing more competitive through engineering and innovation. In June, it announced its Advanced Manufacturing Partnership and sank $500 million into the effort.

But as the National Science Board publication shows, vast government efforts in Asia are working along similar lines. It offered abundant evidence Asia’s efforts to attract and develop engineering outfits, and not just low-wage factories, have paid off. Since 2000:

•Research-and-development expenditures in China and nine other Asian countries have risen to match that of the United States.

• The number of doctoral degrees in engineering awarded in China has more than doubled, and now far exceeds the number awarded in the United States.

• The number of research workers for U.S.-based multinationals working overseas has more than doubled.

The number of high-tech manufacturing jobs in the United States has declined by 687,000, or 28 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to the report.

The far right likes to pontificate about "American exceptionalism" but a public embracing science and accurate and true education is needed if this troubling trend is to be halted.