With unemployment hovering at 10% and 7.2 million jobs lost since the start of the recession, the President today outlined new initiatives to boost job creation.

Investments in our nation’s infrastructure and increased access to credit for small businesses have broad appeal and are needed to help create jobs.  AAM outlined the positive points of these initiatives prior to the President’s jobs summit on December 3.

One new proposal, dubbed “Cash for Caulkers,” would offer expanded tax rebates to individuals who make their homes more energy-efficient by upgrading insulation, water heaters, windows and doors, and other products.  Under current law, homeowners may qualify for a 30% tax credit of up to $1,500 for the cost of new energy-efficient products.  This benefit is scheduled to expire at the end of 2010.  The President proposes to expand this program to provide a larger benefit to participating homeowners. 

While this program sounds great on its face, we ask our policymakers and readers to ask themselves a series of very important questions that will determine the true value of this program for job creation efforts:

• Such a program would certainly benefit energy efficiency efforts and spur employment in weatherization installation, but what would its impact be on domestic manufacturing?

• Where are the majority of energy-efficient products made?  Are the products found on the shelves at your typical home improvement store made in America?

• Will this program provide new business for domestic industries that manufacture steel, rubber, glass, and other inputs?  Will idled factories across America be calling their workers back?

ManufactureThis took a trip to Home Depot to try to start answering these questions.    We were glad to see that some products are made in America, including:

• DAP caulks and sealants
• Certainteed and Owens Corning insulation
• GAF ventilation systems

Unfortunately, many of the high-value energy efficiency products we saw were not made in America.

Several hot water heaters were stamped “Made in Mexico” and “Made in Japan” – see below. 

Most fluorescent bulbs we saw were “Made in China” – see below.

 

 This leads us to ask one final question:  Will providing tax incentives to purchase these products help achieve the President’s goal of quickly putting Americans back to work?  Bottom line: if a product is made here, it creates jobs here.  And that should be a guiding principle in any push for new jobs.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 1:00 pm and is filed under A National Manufacturing Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.