Study: Japanese Auto Industry Major Contributor To U.S. Economy

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

The mantra before, during, and after the bailout was (and still is) that without the bailout, gadzillions of jobs would have vanished, the American car industry would have been wiped out, wheels would have come off the arsenal of democracy, and the sky would have fallen into Lake St. Clair. Of course, that’s nonsense. There are more than enough other carmakers in America. They would have received the sales, and added the jobs. They would have been mostly non-union jobs though.

The truth is, without the bailout, the UAW would have vanished, and with it millions of Democratic votes.

Rutgers University professor Thomas Prusa says that the much maligned Japanese auto industry in the United States “has emerged as a major contributor to the U.S. economy.” In a new study, the professor says that the Japanese auto industry is “responsible for 1.2 million U.S. jobs based on the U.S. production and sales for Japanese-branded automakers,” and that these jobs generate over $76 billion in annual compensation.

Rather than posing risks to U.S. jobs, “the Japanese-branded automobile companies have increased the international competitiveness of all U.S. auto and auto parts workers,” the study says.

Declares the professor:

“While many parts of the U.S. automobile industry have struggled in recent years, the Japanese-branded auto segment has emerged as an important job creator and a leading contributor to the United States economy. The role of Japanese-branded automakers’ investment has grown significantly over the past two decades. In the mid-1980s less than 15% of the Japanese-branded automakers’ U.S. automobile sales were produced in North America. Today approximately two-thirds of the Japanese-branded automobiles sold in the United States are built in North America. Moreover, Japanese-branded automobile plants account for nearly 40% of all U.S. automobile production.”

The study was prepared for the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. Spool-up the prayer mills!

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Sttocs Sttocs on May 06, 2013

    "The truth is, without the bailout, the UAW would have vanished, and with it millions of Democratic votes." What, if the American marques went under, the unions would immediate dissolve and their constituents would be fired into the sun? 1. Not every union member votes Democrat. Some are self-defeating Republicans for reasons I will never understand. 2. Just by being out of a job, those who do vote Democrat don't suddenly lose their vote as well. How fucking stupid are you? Where do you get these ideas? I was directed toward this site on the premise that it was a more mature version of Jalopnick. Instead of hearing unbiased reviews of cars, all I ever see in my RSS feed is economic and political horseshit by obvious college drop-outs, or even worse, sad-sack hacks who jerk off the Wealth Of Nations and think us sheeple are stupid for not voting for Ron Paul. If you really want to play amateur economist on an automotive site, why not talk about the rise in sub-prime auto financing, pay-here-buy-here scam dealers, the increase in warranty denial by subtle modifications or imagined modifications? But no, you'd rather interview to fill Brock Yates' and David E. Davis' shoes as an industry shill. What a crock.

    • See 1 previous
    • Corntrollio Corntrollio on May 07, 2013

      "why not talk about the rise in sub-prime auto financing" Ummm, they have been writing about that lately. There is also a BHPH dealer who writes columns here, although he's more benevolent than the scam artists you're talking about.

  • Wmba Wmba on May 06, 2013

    Apparently these days, we need studies to confirm the obvious.

  • 1995 SC At least you can still get one. There isn't much for Ford folks to be happy about nowadays, but the existence of the Mustang and the fact that the lessons from back in the 90s when Ford tried to kill it and replace it with the then flavor of the day seem to have been learned (the only lessons they seem to remember) are a win not only for Ford folks but for car people in general. One day my Super Coupe will pop its headgaskets (I know it will...I read it on the Internet). I hope I will still be physically up to dropping the supercharged Terminator Cobra motor into it. in all seriousness, The Mustang is a.win for car guys.
  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
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