Overvalued dollar hits U.S.

We are losing jobs in the manufacturing industry at an alarming rate. MeadWestvaco in Rumford recently announced layoffs of more than 110 workers. On the inside of the mill, these layoffs affect many more people.

Unlike the 110, I still have a job. Due to increased imports, many people including myself, have been relocated to a new job, lost department seniority and received a reduction in pay for the second time in 21/2 years. One of the major reasons the industry is facing such tough times is the overvalued dollar compared to other currencies. Some experts say the dollar may be overvalued between 25 and 30 percent. That’s a 30 percent tax on every truckload we sell – whether it goes to foreign countries or customers in the United States. When it takes more euros or Japanese yen to purchase a dollar, it makes U.S. products more expensive in foreign countries. And foreign products become much cheaper in the United States.

According to a report by SalomonSmithBarney, the overvalued dollar has robbed U.S. paper companies of their long-standing competitive advantage vs. European suppliers. The report predicted that U.S. paper companies would not return to profitability until the balance between the dollar-euro rates is restored.

From March 2001 to January 2002 the economy lost 1.2 million jobs in the manufacturing sector. From August 2000, when manufacturing employment peaked at 18.5 million, to January 2002, when manufacturing employment stood at 16.9 million, 1.5 million manufacturing jobs were lost. Steel, automotive, textile, forestry and agriculture sectors are the most affected.

Manufacturing can be distinguished from the rest of the economy because it has become dependent on and affected by trade, and the dramatic shifts in U.S. trade have taken their toll on U.S. manufacturing jobs. Close to 40 percent of the entire decline in manufacturing jobs since August 2000 has been due to the plunge in U.S. exports. Unless exchange rates are fixed pretty soon, the U.S. wood and paper industry will not have the capacity to challenge competitors to retake these lost markets and increase jobs.

Prior to 1997, the U.S. paper industry routinely supplied about 80 percent of the growth in the U.S. market for paper. Since 1997, 90 percent of the growth in demand for paper in the United States was met by imports. Since 1997, U.S. paper companies have had to close 72 mills and have lost more than 32,000 jobs. That’s an average of 14 mills a year, compared to an average of less than four a year in the early 1990s. These are high-paying jobs most often located in rural communities where the mills are the backbone of the local economy.

Approximately 20 lumber mills with a capacity of 1.7 billion board feet were shutdown permanently in 2001. Since 1998, the lumber and wood sectors have lost 23,000 jobs. Despite an increase in consumption of softwood lumber, 65 percent of the increase in demand between 1995 and 2001 was met by imports.

Since the administration controls exchange rates, companies do not have the ability to adopt reactive strategies to remain competitive. This means the only recourse the companies have is to shut down mills and machinery and lay off their skilled work force.

The U.S. administration can do a lot to turn things around. Right now, foreign exchange traders assume the United States will keep on supporting a strong dollar at any level. A change in the way Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill talks about our dollar policy by making it clear that we want a dollar that is fair and sound and that allows our companies to compete would help to start a turnaround. Discussions alone would again send signals to the marketplace that underlying economic fundamentals matter and the United States does not intend to walk away from its manufacturing base.

The last time this happened, in the mid-1980s, the United States got together with other countries and worked out a joint readjustment of rates, the so-called Plaza Accord. That way, no one currency was badly hurt. It worked in 1985 and the U.S. administration should get an agreement with our trading partners to do it again this time. The upcoming G-8 meeting in Canada would be a good place to start.

The Pulp and Paperworkers’ Resource Council is a grass-roots organization representing the interests of the nation’s pulp, paper, solid wood products and other natural resource-based workers. The U.S. forest products industry is vitally important to our nation’s economy, employing 1.5 million people. We rank among the top 10 manufacturers in 46 states with annual sales exceeding $230 billion, which accounts for 7 percent of the U.S. manufacturing shipments. We are people dedicated to conserving the environment while taking into account the economic stability of the work force and surrounding community.

Annette Marin is media and communications director for the Pulp and Paperworkers’ Resource Council in Rumford.