States lure manufacturers and shore up jobs By Susan Caminiti

It wasn't long ago that the thought of corporations bringing their manufacturing back to the U.S. seemed all but impossible. But that's precisely what's happening, and the trend is predicted to continue through the rest of the decade. Consider Kent International, one of the largest U.S.-based bicycle manufacturers. The company, with headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey, has been making its bikes overseas for more than 20 years. But with Chinese labor costs rising over the past several years, the company began to consider whether it made financial sense to bring some of that production back to the U.S. In the fall, Kent's new manufacturing facility will open in Clarendon County, South Carolina. American companies have been offshoring their manufacturing for decades as a way to take advantage of low wages in places like China, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. But now a growing number of them, like Kent International, are rethinking that formula and are bringing at least some of their manufacturing back to the U.S. There are a number of reasons for this shift. Wages in China have been growing roughly 15 percent per year over the past decade, while salaries for manufacturing jobs in the U.S. have risen on average just 2.3 percent over the past 10 years, according to the Labor Department. Factor in higher transportation costs, growing quality-control issues connected with goods made in China and cheaper domestic energy costs, and the case for bringing manufacturing back home begins to add up. Harry Moser is founder and president of the Reshoring Initiative, a Chicago-based firm that works with companies to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. He believes that when companies look at the total cost of ownership (TCO) rather than simply the lower wages in places like China, the case for bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. makes business sense. CNBC