President Biden declared on Wednesday that his economic policies are reviving US manufacturing and toured the West to garner support for his jobs and inflation efforts despite voters’ misgivings.

I am not here to proclaim victory over the economy. We have a lot more work to do,” Biden said at Arcosa Wind Towers, a facility that once made Solo cups and other plastics but is shifting to wind tower production. ‘But we have a plan. And it turns things around.

Arcosa was a good example of how the government’s legislative achievements have bolstered jobs and investment in the US, the president said. The company had to lay off workers in Illinois and Iowa before Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act took effect last year, but after that, customers placed $1.1 billion worth of windmill orders with the company, according to the White House. The stock is up more than 20% in 12 months.

Folks, when I think of climate, I think of jobs, Biden said, referring to cleaner energy production

in his comments to the factory that makes wind towers

.

He pointed to climate-related investments, not only at Arcosa but also at big companies like General Electric, and said: Every one of these companies has pointed to the clean energy bill that we’ve made and I’ve signed up to making these investments.

The claim by Biden and the White House that the administration has bolstered US manufacturing is supported by an increase in construction spending on new factories. But factory hiring has begun to decline in recent months, a sign that the promised boom has not yet fully materialized.

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That hasn’t stopped the White House from telling voters ahead of the 2024 election that the Democratic presidential agenda has sparked a resurgence in factory work.

Hundreds of actions coordinated throughout his administration are leading to a manufacturing renaissance in the United States, White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi told reporters ahead of Biden’s

New Mexico

speech.

Biden’s job message is one he repeats often.

Last month at a Philadelphia shipyard, Biden offered his policy of fighting climate change by moving away from fossil fuels as a way to create jobs. He wants voters to see his social and environmental programs as good for economic growth.

Many of my friends in organized labor know: When I think about climate, I think about jobs, Biden said at the time. I think union jobs. No joke.

Biden’s journey to the Southwest has been overshadowed by his re-election campaign and the challenge of a majority of American adults who say they think the economy is in bad shape. The president is trying to break the pessimism that increased last year when inflation spiked. His trip included a Tuesday speech in Arizona and will conclude with remarks in Utah on Thursday. In 2020, Biden won Arizona and New Mexico, key states he will likely need next year to secure another term.

The president has a case for the public about employment. As the U.S. economy has healed from the COVID-19 pandemic, factory hiring has skyrocketed. The number of jobs in manufacturing has risen to the highest number in nearly 15 years. This is the first time since the 1970s that manufacturing employment has fully recovered from a recession, with an increase of 789,000 jobs since Biden took office.

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But the pace of job growth among manufacturers has slowed over the past year. Factories added about 500,000 workers a year last summer, a figure that fell to 125,000 in the government’s most recent jobs report

profits

over the past 12 months.

Biden administration officials have said more factory jobs are coming because of infrastructure spending, investment in computer chip factories and the various incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Their argument is that the incentives encouraged the private sector to invest, leading to $500 billion in commitments to make computer chips, electric vehicles, advanced batteries, clean energy technology and medical goods. They say more factories are coming because, after adjusting for inflation, factory construction spending is up nearly 100% since the end of 2021.

In April, the Economic Innovation Group, a public policy organization, released a report calling factory construction spending a nationwide explosion. The report notes that there are signs that manufacturing gains are most prominent outside the Midwest, which has historically identified with the industry as more factories open in Southern and Western states. But

OWN

the group is less certain that a full manufacturing recovery is in the works as the industry has been in decline for decades.

Labor Department figures show that total factory employment peaked in 1979 at nearly 19.6 million jobs. With just under 13 million manufacturing jobs now, the US is unlikely to return to that level through automation and trade.

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Adam Ozimek, chief economist at the Economic Innovation Group, said jobs could be a flawed way to measure a rebound in manufacturing. He said better metrics include an increase in factory output, whether the US can switch to renewable energy to curb climate change and whether the government can meet its national security goals by having a stronger supply chain.

It’s way too early to declare anything like a manufacturing renaissance, Ozimek said. We have been dealing with structurally declining employment in the industry for decades. And it is not at all clear whether the positive trends will outweigh the ongoing headwinds.

And Jay Timmons, president and chief executive of the National Assn. from manufacturers,

argued

Federal regulations reportedly hindered the benefits of the Biden administration’s manufacturing policies.

The positive impact of manufacturing investments made during the Biden administration is being undermined by a rising tide of complex and often unbalanced federal regulations,” he said on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, adding that Biden “needs to take action take steps to ensure a balanced regulatory regime.

The Inflation Reduction Act has been the centerpiece of Biden’s climate agenda. However, he is under pressure from some activists and progressives to declare a national climate emergency, which he was asked to do in an interview with the Weather Channel while visiting Arizona’s Grand Canyon on Tuesday.

Biden said he has practically already done that, citing the legislative steps and executive actions he has taken.

It is the existential threat to humanity, he said.

Washington Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.