WASHINGTON -- The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) released its annual economic report that focuses on the uncertainty facing manufacturers and examines legislation, laws and regulations that the group said will have a detrimental impact on the economy.

The report is entitled, “Labor Day 2010: The Impact of Anti-Labor Policies on Working Men and Women.”

“The most concerning fact is that for the second straight Labor Day, national unemployment remains well above 9 percent, and there are few indications people will go back to work anytime soon,” said NAM President John Engler. “Americans want jobs, but proposals that expand government, increase taxes and impose new regulations will make business in the United States less competitive. These proposals will stifle the already weak recovery and destroy manufacturers’ ability to create jobs.”

“We have had four consecutive quarters of economic growth, but much of the increase was temporary in nature,” said NAM Chief Economist David Huether. “More than half of the upturn in the economy over the past year was from business restocking inventories. Now, with inventory-to-sales ratios back to reasonable levels, this source of growth will likely fade.”

The NAM report acknowledges the following legislation, laws and regulations that could have a significant impact on American workers:

• Expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts;
• The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed new regulatory regime to control greenhouse gas emissions and raise energy costs;
• Government implementation of the new health care law, with its numerous mandates on employers, insurers and consumers as well as a myriad of unintended consequences;
• Failure to achieve an ambitious trade agenda necessary to ensure and expand global market share for U.S exporters; and
• Labor policies, such as the Employee Free Choice Act, that could rob the U.S. economy of its dynamic growth potential.

Read the National Association of Manufacturers' press release.