3 ms·

Here's a decent summary of the numbers around US manufacturing output: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-manufacturing-dead-output-has-doubled-in-three-decade

Here's a decent summary of the numbers around US manufacturing output: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-manufacturing-dead-output-has-doubled-in-three-decades-2016-03-28 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-manufacturing-dead-outpu... I'd say the things around the house that say Made In China on them are largely things that simply didn't exist in the 70s. I'd like to find some kind of comparison to look into whether that intuition is correct, but whether it is or not, the numbers absolutely show US manufacturing is high and growing. It's manufacturing jobs that are disappearing, mostly due to automation.

sverige 10y ago
It used to be the case that the US made the stuff that simply didn't exist before. (I don't mean apps, I mean tangible goods.) And lots of stuff that used to be made here is now made in China and other parts of Asia, like furniture and clothing and phones.
- adventured 10y ago
  As for your example, US-based furniture manufacturing has seen a significant recovery since China initially wounded it decades ago: http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/26/once-creaky-sales-turn-sturdy-for-us-furniture-makers.html http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/26/once-creaky-sales-turn-sturdy...
  - semi-extrinsic 10y ago
    This makes sense; furniture is big, heavy, and difficult to transport. Outsourcing is easiest with small, pricey items that can be safely packaged in rectangular boxes. Like phones. Furniture, cars, houses etc. are cheapest when produced semi-locally, which is why even Japanese and Korean car manufacturers have assembly plants in the US and in Europe. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_assembly_plants_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_assembly_pl... )
- jdminhbg 10y ago
  Furniture production in the US in 1990 totaled $40bn; in 2005 it doubled to more than $85bn: http://congressionalresearch.com/RL34001/document.php?study=U.S.+Furniture+Manufacturing+Overview+and+Prospects http://congressionalresearch.com/RL34001/document.php?study=... What's being made in Asia that didn't exist before is super low cost disposable stuff that a lower-income family could buy, or that a middle-income family could throw in a guest room. I suspect that pattern exists all over -- I have some high-end first-world manufactured goods in my kitchen, but I also have some crappy junk that I use infrequently or on an almost disposable basis. Turn the clock back 40 years, and I would just have the high-end goods, without the pizza cutter or avocado masher or whatever.
  - slededit 10y ago
    The increase in inflation adjusted dollars is only $7bn. Absolutely not a decrease, but saying it more than doubled obscures the situation.

sverige 10y ago

It used to be the case that the US made the stuff that simply didn't exist before. (I don't mean apps, I mean tangible goods.) And lots of stuff that used to be made here is now made in China and other parts of Asia, like furniture and clothing and phones.

adventured 10y ago
As for your example, US-based furniture manufacturing has seen a significant recovery since China initially wounded it decades ago: http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/26/once-creaky-sales-turn-sturdy-for-us-furniture-makers.html http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/26/once-creaky-sales-turn-sturdy...
- semi-extrinsic 10y ago
  This makes sense; furniture is big, heavy, and difficult to transport. Outsourcing is easiest with small, pricey items that can be safely packaged in rectangular boxes. Like phones. Furniture, cars, houses etc. are cheapest when produced semi-locally, which is why even Japanese and Korean car manufacturers have assembly plants in the US and in Europe. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_assembly_plants_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_assembly_pl... )
jdminhbg 10y ago
Furniture production in the US in 1990 totaled $40bn; in 2005 it doubled to more than $85bn: http://congressionalresearch.com/RL34001/document.php?study=U.S.+Furniture+Manufacturing+Overview+and+Prospects http://congressionalresearch.com/RL34001/document.php?study=... What's being made in Asia that didn't exist before is super low cost disposable stuff that a lower-income family could buy, or that a middle-income family could throw in a guest room. I suspect that pattern exists all over -- I have some high-end first-world manufactured goods in my kitchen, but I also have some crappy junk that I use infrequently or on an almost disposable basis. Turn the clock back 40 years, and I would just have the high-end goods, without the pizza cutter or avocado masher or whatever.
- slededit 10y ago
  The increase in inflation adjusted dollars is only $7bn. Absolutely not a decrease, but saying it more than doubled obscures the situation.