WASHINGTON — President Obama, seeking to fulfill a pledge from his last State of the Union address before his next one in two weeks, will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to announce the establishment of a manufacturing institute to help create well-paying jobs.þþA consortium, led by North Carolina State University and comprising 18 companies and six universities, will use advanced semiconductor technology to develop a new generation of energy-efficient devices for automobiles, consumer electronics and industrial motors.þþIt is the first of three such institutes the president plans to announce and will be financed by a five-year, $70 million grant from the Energy Department. The grant will be matched by money from consortium members, including the equipment manufacturer John Deere and Delphi, an auto-parts maker.þþThe president also plans to tour a North Carolina research and development center for Vacon, which makes drives that are used to control the speed of electric motors to increase their efficiency.þþMr. Obama regularly makes factory visits to remind Americans that manufacturing has been a bright spot in the job market’s otherwise uneven record during his presidency.þþA surprisingly weak job report was issued on Friday for December, dousing expectations that the job market would gain real momentum in 2014. Mr. Obama is expected to address the setback, which some economists played down as an anomaly caused by the cold weather before Christmas.þþEven so, experts said the report contained other troubling signs, including weakening trends in average hourly earnings and labor force participation rates.þþThe president is also likely to criticize the Senate’s failure on Tuesday to extend unemployment insurance for 1.3 million of the long-term uninsured. In a statement on Tuesday night, the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said it was “very disappointing” that Republicans blocked a compromise, which he said cut off a “vital lifeline” for people looking for work.þþThe establishment of a manufacturing institute in North Carolina showcases the White House’s determination to press ahead with jobs programs, with or without Congress.þþBut it also lays bare the limits of Mr. Obama’s authority, since Congress has stymied more ambitious proposals that would require legislation. In his State of the Union address last February, the president announced a $1 billion plan, modeled on one in Germany, to create a network of 15 institutes that would develop new industries.þþMr. Obama extolled a pilot project in Youngstown, Ohio, that he said had turned a shuttered factory into a laboratory where workers were honing skills in three-dimensional printing.þþBut setting up 15 institutes would require congressional authorization. So last year, Mr. Obama narrowed his focus to three institutes that could be established using existing funds and executive authority. At the same time, he increased his long-term goal to 45 institutes over 10 years, while acknowledging the plan would require congressional action.þ
Source: NY Times
