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by Chris Chiappinelli, MA Editorial Staff   The warning shots have reached a crescendo. The surging cost of energy -- a common denominator in all industrial operations -- is bedevling manufacturers across the country and around the globe. In its wake, many companies have been forced to make undesirable and irreversible business decisions. The impact of these price hikes on jobs is notoriously difficult to measure, since layoffs typically owe to a confluence of factors. But neither can the contributing effect be denied. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) counts two million lost jobs in the manufacturing sector since 2000, and attributes at least some of those to unmanageable energy costs. A survey of manufacturers released last November by the NAM found that 45% of respondents planned either layoffs or wage freezes or reductions to keep pace with cost pressures. [Click to continue] |