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Manufacturing Jobs
About This Indicator
What Are Manufacturing Jobs?
The number of jobs on manufacturing payrolls, from cars and chips to food and furniture: long the political shorthand for industrial strength.
Why Do They Matter?
Factory work historically paid well without a degree and anchored whole towns. When a plant closes, its suppliers, the diners near its gates, and the local tax base feel it too.
Can Politics Influence Them?
Trade policy, tariffs, taxes, and the dollar all move it, but over the long run productivity growth has moved it further. A tariff can shield one plant and raise costs for another that buys the imported steel or parts.
Key Idea
From 1979 to 2007 manufacturing employment fell by about three in ten while industrial production, mostly manufacturing, roughly doubled: a shrinking payroll meant each worker making more, not the country making less.
Not Scored
Source: BLS. CES3000000001.
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