The Atlantic

Has the Death of American Manufacturing Been Exaggerated?

The sector has shrunk, but remains a significant part of the economy.
Source: Alwyn Scott / Reuters

Manufacturing’s share of U.S. employment has been on a steady since the end of World War II. In May, the figure touched 8.48 percent, the lowest level since the Labor Department first began keeping records in 1940. The decline has been to the growth in income inequality, the of the American middle class, and the of populist politics. But as the country appears to rethink free

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic3 min read
They Rode the Rails, Made Friends, and Fell Out of Love With America
The open road is the great American literary device. Whether the example is Jack Kerouac or Tracy Chapman, the national canon is full of travel tales that observe America’s idiosyncrasies and inequalities, its dark corners and lost wanderers, but ult
The Atlantic8 min readAmerican Government
The Most Consequential Recent First Lady
This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. The most consequential first lady of modern times was Melania Trump. I know, I know. We are supposed to believe it was Hillary Clinton, with her unbaked cookies
The Atlantic4 min read
Hayao Miyazaki’s Anti-war Fantasia
Once, in a windowless conference room, I got into an argument with a minor Japanese-government official about Hayao Miyazaki. This was in 2017, three years after the director had announced his latest retirement from filmmaking. His final project was

Related Books & Audiobooks