Manufacturing Job Loss is Not Inevitable; Importance of Manufacturing

[National Jobs for All Coalition]

Howard Wial | February 22, 2012

Manufacturing Job Loss is Not Inevitable

Jobs Alone Do Not Explain the Importance of Manufacturing Scott Andes and Mark Muro | April 3, 2013

"...mass employment is not the fundamental reason we need a healthy and vibrant manufacturing sector. Manufacturing—or rather advanced manufacturing—is essential to the U.S. economy because it is the main source of innovation and global competitiveness for the United States. Simply put, advanced manufacturing is the U.S. pipeline for new products and productivity-enhancing processes. While the sector makes up just 11 percent of the economy, manufacturers conduct 68 percent of private sector R&D, as reported by our colleagues Sue Helper and Howard Wial last year. And on average, they noted, 22 percent of manufacturers introduce new processes to increase productivity compared to just 8 percent of non-manufacturers. This is important because innovation that emerges from America’s manufacturing sector also fuels growth within the service sector because intermediary goods—the machines used by services (e.g. automated self check-out kiosks at grocery stores)—drive service sector productivity."

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National Jobs for All Coalition
http://www.njfac.org/