Reports of American manufacturing’s death are greatly exaggerated

In an op-ed being syndicated by InsideSources, I take on one of the most persistent myths in politics: that American manufacturing is in decline. By nearly every measure, American manufacturing is healthy:

[I]nflation-adjusted manufacturing output today is about five times higher than in the 1950s. It would be higher still if not for post-Great Recession financial regulations and the Trump-Biden trade wars.

In the 1950s, domestic manufacturing output was about 12 percent of GDP. Today, it is also about 12 percent of GDP.

American manufacturers crank out more goods than Japan, Germany, South Korea, and India combined. The only country with higher manufacturing output is China, mainly because it has quadruple America’s population.

Even the decline in manufacturing employment is good news:

Manufacturing doomsayers are correct that US manufacturing jobs are down quite a bit since their 1979 peak. It was almost 20 million people then, and less than 13 million people now. Even this is good news. Ask any room of people how many of them want their children and grandchildren to spend their working years on factory floors. You will get few raised hands, even in the Rust Belt.

Read the whole thing here.