Declining Manufacturing Employment as a Global Social Change: Implications for Azerbaijan

Existing literature provides striking empirical results about the declining manufacturing employment all over the world. This bare finding brought about clear definition of deindustrialization: "systematic disinvestment in a nation's core manufacturing industries". In some studies we observe globalization as a main source of this concern. Only in Japanese economy between 2001 and 2004, 800 thousand jobs were lost in manufacturing SMEs. For the same period, job loss in all US manufacturing industry reached to 2, 1 million. Of the 10 countries tracked by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 1997 and 2009, United States lost highest number of jobs in manufacturing. By mid-2012, Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee submitted its report to Mr. Obama with the title of "Capturing Domestic Competitive Advantage in Advanced Manufacturing". This report also includes concerns about declining share of manufacturing in the US Economy. From the social change standpoint, US is much concerned than others, because middle-class of America is built up by manufacturing. Also, US experience shows that, manufacturing jobs are more likely to be full-time and to offer 12 percent higher wages than other jobs. Other study suggests that between 1970s and 2000s external factors caused manufacturing sector employment decline across 18 OECD countries. About the developing countries, a comprehensive study including analysis of 64 countries comes up with interesting result: From 1980 to 2003 manufacturing employment increased in most countries. Declining relative importance of manufacturing in terms of employment and output made some countries to take pre-emptive steps. Developing countries such as Cameroon and Nigeria perceives manufacturing sector development plans as poverty reduction policy for the economy. Fostering non-oil industry, that is manufacturing, holds a national vital priority and provides potential employment opportunities for Azerbaijan economy too. During the rising concerns era of manufacturing employment, numerous policy implications are also supposed to be concluded for the Azerbaijan economy. This study will attempt to come up with some practical and plausible suggestions for the Azerbaijan, regarding manufacturing employment and its social impacts.