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The only surprising thing is that anyone is surprised. It only takes a glance at any relevant statistics to see that manufacturing in the USA is extremely robus

The only surprising thing is that anyone is surprised. It only takes a glance at any relevant statistics to see that manufacturing in the USA is extremely robust. Propaganda about American weakness is typically dealt out by politicians looking to get support from people who were laid off at the local Oldsmobile plant. As a campaign tactic it works, but it's counterfactual.

adventured 12y ago
A lot of the propaganda comes from the substantial reduction in jobs in manufacturing. The propaganda point is that all of those jobs were "lost" to China, when in fact most were eliminated by massive productivity gains. Until about a year +/- ago, the US was still the world's largest manufacturer (not the largest exporter of course). A point few seem to realize, but shouldn't be surprising in a $17 trillion economy.
- Lazare 12y ago
  A fact I love to point out is that China's manufacturing employment is reducing too. "And manufacturing employment is falling almost everywhere, including in China." Source: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-28/why-factory-jobs-are-shrinking-everywhere http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-28/why-factory-...
- _delirium 12y ago
  Some is from productivity gains, but some is significant shift in sectors, towards less labor-intensive sectors where competition with low-wage countries is less of a problem. For example the U.S. used to be a net exporter of steel, but is now a large net importer. It's not that the U.S. steel mills got more efficient through productivity gains and are still producing at high levels but with fewer employees. Rather, they did indeed largely close and move overseas. The U.S. now imports much of the steel it once produced domestically, and U.S. manufacturing has moved into other sectors instead. I suppose you can consider realignment of a country's industry mix towards areas of competitive advantage to be a kind of productivity gain (at the macro level it improves the ratio of output to labor inputs), but it isn't precisely the same as productivity gains within a sector, caused by e.g. improved processes or automation.
  - maxerickson 12y ago
    See my sister comment. U.S. steel production in 2011 and 2012 compares reasonably to most of the 1980s. Not all that much new capacity was created in the U.S. though, and the population did grow almost 50%.
    - akgerber 12y ago
      My reading of those figures is that the US never recovered its steel production after the steel collapse of 1982: http://www.post-gazette.com/business/businessnews/2012/12/23/In-desperate-1983-there-was-nowhere-for-Pittsburgh-s-economy-to-go-but-up/stories/201212230258 http://www.post-gazette.com/business/businessnews/2012/12/23...
      - maxerickson 12y ago
        That's true. I was pointing more at the rise of China not disrupting the industry. I guess the rise of Japan and such had already done that.
      - HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
        Does it matter? I mean, if I can buy something cheaper than I can make it myself, where's my incentive to make it?
- maxerickson 12y ago
  China did do an excellent job going from not having an export economy to being a huge exporter. So there is a sense where the US lost a lot of potential new manufacturing business to China. (Global iron and steel production tell this story. Over the last 30 years the U.S. remains relatively flat in absolute terms but goes from ~10% of global output to ~5% http://www.worldsteel.org/statistics/statistics-archive/annual-steel-archive.html http://www.worldsteel.org/statistics/statistics-archive/annu... )
  - henrikschroder 12y ago
    That might be true, but it's also very likely that the US moved up the value chain and replaced iron and steel exports with other goods.
api 12y ago
A lot of it is also regional. The situation in California is different from that in Michigan or Ohio.
afafsd 12y ago
Apart from political propaganda it's also just a function of the stuff people buy. I buy a lot of cheap consumer-grade merchandise and it's largely made in China. But I never buy an airliner.
- GabrielF00 12y ago
  Even Boeing's commercial airlines are now built largely from components manufactured outside the US. Foreign companies make 70% of the 787 (35% is made in Japan). When the 747 was introduced in the late 60s it was about 2%. [http://www.forbes.com/sites/eamonnfingleton/2013/01/26/the-untold-story-of-the-boeing-787-finally-hits-the-fan/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/eamonnfingleton/2013/01/26/the-u...]
bluedino 12y ago
It's nothing compared to what it used to be. The entire midwest was decimated over the last 40 years by factory closures. It'd be interesting to see a list of things we don't even make in the USA any longer, and when the last year was that we made them.

adventured 12y ago

A lot of the propaganda comes from the substantial reduction in jobs in manufacturing. The propaganda point is that all of those jobs were "lost" to China, when in fact most were eliminated by massive productivity gains. Until about a year +/- ago, the US was still the world's largest manufacturer (not the largest exporter of course). A point few seem to realize, but shouldn't be surprising in a $17 trillion economy.

Lazare 12y ago
A fact I love to point out is that China's manufacturing employment is reducing too. "And manufacturing employment is falling almost everywhere, including in China." Source: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-28/why-factory-jobs-are-shrinking-everywhere http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-28/why-factory-...
_delirium 12y ago
Some is from productivity gains, but some is significant shift in sectors, towards less labor-intensive sectors where competition with low-wage countries is less of a problem. For example the U.S. used to be a net exporter of steel, but is now a large net importer. It's not that the U.S. steel mills got more efficient through productivity gains and are still producing at high levels but with fewer employees. Rather, they did indeed largely close and move overseas. The U.S. now imports much of the steel it once produced domestically, and U.S. manufacturing has moved into other sectors instead. I suppose you can consider realignment of a country's industry mix towards areas of competitive advantage to be a kind of productivity gain (at the macro level it improves the ratio of output to labor inputs), but it isn't precisely the same as productivity gains within a sector, caused by e.g. improved processes or automation.
- maxerickson 12y ago
  See my sister comment. U.S. steel production in 2011 and 2012 compares reasonably to most of the 1980s. Not all that much new capacity was created in the U.S. though, and the population did grow almost 50%.
  - akgerber 12y ago
    My reading of those figures is that the US never recovered its steel production after the steel collapse of 1982: http://www.post-gazette.com/business/businessnews/2012/12/23/In-desperate-1983-there-was-nowhere-for-Pittsburgh-s-economy-to-go-but-up/stories/201212230258 http://www.post-gazette.com/business/businessnews/2012/12/23...
    - maxerickson 12y ago
      That's true. I was pointing more at the rise of China not disrupting the industry. I guess the rise of Japan and such had already done that.
    - HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
      Does it matter? I mean, if I can buy something cheaper than I can make it myself, where's my incentive to make it?
maxerickson 12y ago
China did do an excellent job going from not having an export economy to being a huge exporter. So there is a sense where the US lost a lot of potential new manufacturing business to China. (Global iron and steel production tell this story. Over the last 30 years the U.S. remains relatively flat in absolute terms but goes from ~10% of global output to ~5% http://www.worldsteel.org/statistics/statistics-archive/annual-steel-archive.html http://www.worldsteel.org/statistics/statistics-archive/annu... )
- henrikschroder 12y ago
  That might be true, but it's also very likely that the US moved up the value chain and replaced iron and steel exports with other goods.

api 12y ago

A lot of it is also regional. The situation in California is different from that in Michigan or Ohio.

afafsd 12y ago

Apart from political propaganda it's also just a function of the stuff people buy. I buy a lot of cheap consumer-grade merchandise and it's largely made in China. But I never buy an airliner.

GabrielF00 12y ago
Even Boeing's commercial airlines are now built largely from components manufactured outside the US. Foreign companies make 70% of the 787 (35% is made in Japan). When the 747 was introduced in the late 60s it was about 2%. [http://www.forbes.com/sites/eamonnfingleton/2013/01/26/the-untold-story-of-the-boeing-787-finally-hits-the-fan/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/eamonnfingleton/2013/01/26/the-u...]

bluedino 12y ago

It's nothing compared to what it used to be. The entire midwest was decimated over the last 40 years by factory closures. It'd be interesting to see a list of things we don't even make in the USA any longer, and when the last year was that we made them.