12/05/2016
After making jobs a hot topic in Indiana during the campaign, President elect Trump announced a plan to save 1,100 jobs at the Carrier manufacturing plant in Indiana. The jobs were scheduled to be filled in Monterrey Mexico, where the minimum wage is $3.90/hr. Carrier is owned by parent company United Technologies. The plant makes parts for heating and air conditioning.
Trump said to the crowd of workers “But I will tell you that United Technologies and Carrier stepped it up and now they’re keeping — actually the number’s over 1,100 people, which is so great, which is so great.” “And by the way, that number is going to go up substantially as they expand this area, this plant,” Trump said. “The 1,100 is going to be a minimum number.”
While Carrier did confirm that 1,100 jobs were going to remain in Indiana, not all of those were scheduled to be relocated. The number of jobs saved by the deal is actually 730, which is still a significant number. Unfortunately, 1,253 jobs would still go to Mexico (553 from the carrier plant and 700 from a similar United Technologies plant).
There was a cost to saving the jobs. The state of Indiana conceded $7 million in tax breaks over ten years to retain the 730 jobs. Each job saved costs other Indiana residents $9,589.
During his announcement for President, Trump claimed that he would be the greatest jobs President God ever created (Greatest jobs President God created). Can he negotiate and persuade to keep more jobs and grow the economy? Time will tell, but he is off to a good start.
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