obs To Move America, a “strategic policy center that works to transform public spending and corporate behavior” (according to their website), recently put out an in-depth report on job quality at manufacturing facilities in Alabama and Mississippi. And not only did this report find that job quality is poor, but work-life balance is also virtually nonexistent for workers. This data was compiled from survey responses by over 1,300 employees across the sister-states’ manufacturing sector.

To discuss these concerning findings, Angela Dawson, the Mississippi Community Engagement Coordinator for Jobs To Move America, joined The Valley Labor Report last week.

“Dr. Emily Erickson at Alabama A&M came in, she was a professor of urban development, and noticed the peppering of different plants around Alabama, and how manufacturing was kind of increasing… in the South,” Dawson explained, describing what led to the report. “We’d even go as far as to say the South is the new ‘rust belt,’ because companies are coming here to take advantage of the incentives, and the revolving door of workers. And so [Dr. Erickson] wanted to try to do research to find out why — if all of these jobs were in Alabama and Mississippi — why are things still so bad, life-wise for the workers? Why are people still living in poverty if all of these jobs are coming to the South?”

Dr. Erickson was able to secure a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and then assembled a group of experts who worked together to develop the survey that would be used to gauge worker data. Dawson then worked with interns to get the survey into the hands of manufacturing workers across the two states.

“We were able to get 1,300 manufacturing surveys done in the communities — four companies in Mississippi and four in Alabama,” Dawson said.

What the survey data told them was concerning, to say the least.

“Overall, we found that the quality of the manufacturing jobs is low, across many dimensions, and the dimensions we looked at were: paying benefits, terms of employment, work-life balance, health and safety, and representation and voice. They were relatively low across those six dimensions.” Dawson said.

You can read the full report on Jobs To Move America’s website: https://jobstomoveamerica.org/resource/job-quality-and-community-well-being-in-mississippi-and-alabamas-manufacturing-facilities/

Watch the full interview with Angela Dawson for a more in-depth discussion on the report:

Joe Harrison is graphic designer and video producer for The Valley Labor Report, as well as an orchestral composer. Having a long history with self-centered, manipulative, and abusive employers, he joined TVLR in November 2021 in an effort to raise awareness of worker struggles and the severe imbalance of power in the workplace and the nation as a whole.