The continuing decrease in the role of manufacturing in the U.S. economy has been getting worse over the past 57 years, as shown by America’s output, which accounted for about 25 percent of the gross domestic product in the 1950s and ‘60s.
One out of three jobs was in the factory sector, but currently, manufacturing is roughly 12 percent of overall national output and accounts for one in 10 U.S. jobs. Until the 2001 recession, manufacturing employment had been more or less steady since the early 1960s.
Imports account for about 37 percent of U.S. consumption of goods, and exports account for 25 percent of U.S. production versus about 9 percent in the 1960s. All these revelations come from Raymond James Financial Services.
However, the main reason for the ever-dwindling manufacturing in this country is the outsourcing of jobs and the reliance [on] cheap imports from China and other Asian nations that have an extremely low-income work force.
I believe that in the years ahead, our middle-class work force—which already has become service-oriented—will end up with the wage scale of China’s underclass, and it’ll make no difference if one is a blue-collar worker, a highly trained technician or a computer specialist.
— Fred R. Chaffee
Hendersonville
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