I think that you're right, but it can be tricky to interpret manufacturing data since the US went from a manufactured goods net exporter to net importer since t

I think that you're right, but it can be tricky to interpret manufacturing data since the US went from a manufactured goods net exporter to net importer since the 1970s. My favorite example uses mining and energy. https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Coal_and_jobs_in_the_United_States#Coal_mining_jobs https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Coal_and_jobs_in_the_U... Per the second table, American coal miner productivity more than tripled between 1970 and 2000. US coal production tonnage peaked in 2008 with about 85,000 miners while employment peaked in 1920 with about 785,000 miners. Primary energy consumption per capita in the US peaked by 1978 and has been roughly flat for 40 years: https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/pdf/sec1_13.pdf https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/pdf/sec1_13.pdf We're producing more energy per worker and not consuming any more energy per capita. My personal interpretation: we are bumping up against the Limits to Growth, and finding they are more on the demand side than the supply side.