Crypto News: US manufacturing’s missing ingredient: women

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The US is undergoing a manufacturing renaissance as billions of dollars are invested in new factories. In fact, only last week the White House boasted about the number of jobs being created in the sector, hailing a turnaround in a critical area of the nation's economy and setting up a key battleground for next year's presidential elections.

But the boom is missing one significant input: women.

Research from the Manufacturers Alliance Foundation has put a spotlight on why women's representation in manufacturing is more or less unchanged since the 1970s. Through interviews with more than two dozen female leaders in sectors such as engineering and sales and through an online survey, the foundation took a snapshot of conditions on the factory floor.

The responses were stark: 82% of men surveyed said the industry has made significant progress in providing equal opportunities and pay for women—but only 38% of women agreed.

Asked if "my appearance does not influence how others judge my leadership skills" 52% of men agreed, compared with 27% for women. On speaking their mind at meetings, 52% of men felt their views are heard, compared with 42% for women.

Those interviewed complained about closed networks outside of the workplace, such as golf outings or happy hours. Although the report notes that women are increasing their share of employment in manufacturing, the pace remains far behind that of their male colleagues. Women make up 47% of the nation's workforce but only 29% in manufacturing.

Women's representation in manufacturing is more or less unchanged since the 1970s. Photographer: Natalie Fobes/Corbis Documentary RF

Among the voices interviewed and quoted for the research was Emily Pajek, a general manager at Lincoln Electric in Euclid, Ohio. "I got a degree in civil engineering because I had a strong desire to work outdoors," she said. "That all changed the first time I walked into a manufacturing plant. There was so much noise, activity, and so many people, I instantly thought it was cool. I've been in manufacturing ever since."

The report's recommendations to level up the imbalances include better rotation and mentoring programs, transparency on career ladders and zero tolerance of harassment.

According to Jacquie Boyer, senior vice president and chief commercial officer at Sensata Technologies, those changes can't come soon enough: "Prior to COVID, the World Economic Forum was saying women were going to reach parity with men globally in about 60 years. After COVID hit, it was more than 130 years. And that statistic hit me like a ton of bricks. So it wasn't going to happen in my lifetime. It wasn't going to happen in my daughter's lifetime, and it wasn't going to happen in my granddaughter's lifetime. That made no sense to me." —Enda Curran, Bloomberg Businessweek

In South Africa, workers illegally dig in old mines for a newly hot metal: chrome, which is essential for making stainless steel. As Bloomberg's Kimon de Greef writes for Businessweek from a village named Witrangjie, the situation is brutal for miners and a mess for supply chains:

In the past decade, chrome mining has devolved into brutal disorder. Witrandjie's leaders are powerless to stop the advance of the machines, and the villagers have grown mistrustful and fearful of one another, with turf wars and gang involvement driving a rise in violence. Thousands of tons of material are being trucked away daily, vanishing into an unaccountable export market for chrome ore—part of an insidious and highly lucrative new illicit economy in South Africa. By far the world's largest chrome producer, the country is now thought to lose around a tenth of its annual production in this way, according to ChromeSA, a local industry body. Analysts say the true figure is likely even higher. "It's crime organized on a major level," says Paul Miller, director of AmaranthCX, a local mining consultant.

Where does this chrome go? Well, everywhere: Analysts have said it's basically impossible to name all the possible applications for stainless steel. And, not surprisingly, this subterranean economy is an environmental disaster:

In Witrandjie, home to fewer than 2,000 people, it's become common for 70 cargo trucks, each carrying 50 tons of ore or more, to be loaded in a single day. "The land has been turned upside down," Gaudupe Mpodi, the village headman, said in a local television interview in 2020. Satellite imagery captured since then shows the mines spreading across the plain, churning the earth; their footprint is now larger than the village itself. As Molwana and I exited the old grazing area, some young children in school uniforms were returning from the neighboring village, walking on a gravel road next to the mines. Excavators and trucks thundered by, lifting clouds of dust. The roar of machinery was unabating and would go on all night.

Read on for more on what the upward trajectory for chrome mining means for South Africa and the world. The ramifications are huge—just look at the contents of your kitchen sink.

Here's something that seems surprising to read on the cusp of August, as July proves to be as hot as it gets on planet Earth: There are problems in the swimming pool sector. To wit, from Bloomberg Opinion's Brooke Sutherland:

Demand for pool products soared during the pandemic as consumers spent more time at home and rediscovered the benefits of outdoor living. Retailers of chlorine tablets, pumps and other supplies were able to pass on higher costs to customers with little pushback. Business is no longer going quite so swimmingly. On July 13, pool-products retailer Leslie's Inc. slashed its full-year adjusted earnings per share outlook after results in the period leading up to the pool season came in well short of expectations. The company's shares have plummeted 40% since then. On July 20, Pool Corp., a distributor of pool products, also cut its full-year earnings guidance.

Why are pool people so glum? Well, it turns out that thanks to chemical shortages last year, pool owners began hoarding their chlorine. The whole industry is a fascinating micro glimpse into the confusing macro forces shaping the global economy.

In December 2021 a doctor and an occupational health expert entered Amazon.com Inc.'s mammoth BF14 fulfillment center in Kent, Washington, about 20 miles south of the company's Seattle headquarters. They were there at the behest of state regulators to investigate why workers at the world's largest online retailer are injured more often than their counterparts in warehouses that other companies run.

Echoing Amazon's penchant for tracking employees' every move, the investigators used electronic monitors and video cameras to measure the stooping, lifting, reaching and twisting required to pick, pack and ship products to customers across the US. Over three days they observed more than 50 employees performing 12 tasks, including unloading trucks stacked floor-to-ceiling with boxes weighing as much as 50 pounds, packing customer items in envelopes and moving around pallets of products on rolling jacks.

Amazon's BFI4 fulfillment center in Kent, Washington, where state inspectors strapped ergonomic monitors to workers. Photographer: Chona Kasinger/Bloomberg

The inspection—done with a court order because Amazon initially refused the use of electronic monitors—found hazards in almost every task reviewed. Ten-hour shifts with mandatory overtime and a rapid work pace put workers at risk of hurting their backs, shoulders, wrists and knees, the investigators determined. Employees surveyed by the inspectors said pushing through pain was the norm, with some 40% saying they'd experienced it in the previous seven days. Of those, two-thirds said they took medication to ease symptoms.

These findings will be front and center starting in late July as Washington's Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals begins considering citations the state issued against Amazon, which the company is contesting. The state Department of Labor and Industry says Amazon pushes workers too hard by setting onerous performance targets that inevitably get people hurt. Last year, on average, 100 Amazon warehouse workers were injured each day in the US—out of a workforce of about 750,000—and required about two months to recover, according to a Bloomberg analysis of federal injury data.

The Washington hearings are just the beginning of a widening government crackdown on Amazon's safety record that's arguably the most intrusive scrutiny in the company's history. After inspecting six warehouses in five states, federal regulators earlier this year cited Amazon for exposing workers to a range of musculoskeletal maladies and for failing to provide adequate medical treatment. Amazon is appealing the citations even as the government conducts further investigations. California, New York, Minnesota and several other states have passed or are considering new laws crafted to help prevent industry productivity quotas from interfering with legally required meal and rest breaks.

For the full story by Spencer Soper and Josh Eidelson on Amazon's legal challenge, go here.

7,000 lbs.

That's the size of two different caches of illegal weed that Oklahoma law enforcement found packed in trucks headed for New York and New Jersey. Oklahoma has emerged as hub for illegal marijuana growers and sellers.

"We're talking more about rearranging the deck chairs when you've got these big calamities bearing down on the company."

Deane Dray

RBC Capital Markets analyst

3M has so many big problems on its hands that one veteran Wall Street analyst likened the conglomerate's challenges to the Titanic just after the iceberg. Read the full story here.

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