Biden is pitching his economic policies as a key to a manufacturing jobs revival
CTV
Bringing back factory jobs is one of the most popular of White House promises -- regardless of who happens to be the president.
Bringing back factory jobs is one of the most popular of White House promises -- regardless of who happens to be the president.
Donald Trump said he'd do it with tariffs. Barack Obama said companies would start "insourcing." George W. Bush said tax cuts would do the trick. But factory jobs seemed to struggle to fully return after each recession.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden will make the case in a New Mexico speech that his policies of financial and tax incentives have revived U.S. manufacturing. His claim is supported by a rise in construction spending on new factories. But factory hiring has begun to slow in recent months, a sign that the promised boom has yet to fully materialize.
That hasn't stopped the White House from telling voters ahead of the 2024 election that the Democratic president's agenda has triggered a "renaissance" in factory work.
"Hundreds of actions coordinated through his entire government are sparking a manufacturing renaissance across the United States," White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi told reporters ahead of Biden's New Mexico speech, asking them to picture in their minds a crowded jobs fair in Belen, New Mexico, for the 250 workers that Arcosa plans to hire at a factory that makes wind towers.
The president will speak as construction starts on Arcosa's plant, which formerly made Solo cups and later plastics. The White House said that Arcosa had to lay off workers in Illinois and Iowa before the Inflation Reduction Act became law last year, but customers placed $1.1 billion in wind tower orders with the company afterward. The stock has risen more than 20% in the past 12 months.
Biden's message on jobs is one he's been repeating frequently.
