Justin Fox, Columnist

No, U.S. Manufacturing Isn't Really Booming

Take another look at the numbers for computers and electronic equipment.

October 19, 2016 at 5:52 PM UTC

Corrected

November 9, 2016 at 4:59 PM UTC

Justin Fox is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business, economics and other topics involving charts. A former editorial director of the Harvard Business Review, he is author of “The Myth of the Rational Market.”

It's all in the details.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

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Employment in manufacturing peaked in the U.S. in June 1979, at almost 19.6 million jobs. This September, that was down to 12.3 million (these numbers are seasonally adjusted).

That fall in employment tells us a lot about today's American political and economic life. It helps explain why regions that were heavily reliant on manufacturing have been struggling so much, why older Americans without college degrees are so cranky, why labor unions are so weak. But does it mean that American manufacturing is in decline?