The explanation for this is that the rest of our economy is growing faster than our manufacturing sector. That doesn't mean that, overall, manufacturing is shrinking in this country.
And what parts of the rest of the economy have been growing faster ?
Total Gross Output increased by $3,827 Billion (3.82 Trillion) between 1998 and 2003. The following six categories in the output spreadsheet referred in the previous post were responsible for $2,847 Billion (2.85 Trillion) of the Total Gross Output.
Finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing Government Professional and business services Educational services, health care, and social assistance Retail trade Construction
The six categories represent 74.4% of the Total Output Growth between 1998 and 2003. These categories are services, real estate, and government.
These categories expanded on the back of record credit creation. They cannot continue and they are not long term wealth producing factors for our economy.