The Manufacturing Renaissance Is Not as Awesome as We Thought

If there’s one story that’s been beaten to death by the media in search of feel-good news from what’s been a pretty tepid economic recovery, it’s that of the supposed manufacturing renaissance in the U.S. Both Time and the Atlantic have promoted its success with recent cover stories. I’m guilty, too.

It’s not that American manufacturing isn’t doing well. Companies are moving operations back to the U.S. The South is becoming one of the cheapest places to build things in the world. Factories are humming along at their fastest pace in years. Since the spring of 2010, the U.S. has added 600,000 new manufacturing jobs. That’s great and all, until you consider the 1.9 million manufacturing jobs lost during the recession. Here’s what total manufacturing employment looks like since 1990: