1998: 24.18%
1999: 23.53%
2000: 22.79%
2001: 21.17%
2002: 20.37%
2003: 19.84%
Below is each subcategory of manufacturing data and the associated percent increase or decrease between 1998 - 2003.
Wood products: 1.43%
Nonmetallic mineral products: -5.80%
Primary metals: -22.77%
Fabricated metal products: -3.88%
Machinery: -9.48%
Computer and electronic products: -4.46%
Electrical equipment, appliances, and components: -14.16%
Motor vehicles, bodies and trailers, and parts: -2.53%
Other transportation equipment: -5.18%
Furniture and related products: -1.31%
Miscellaneous manufacturing: 22.67%
Food and beverage and tobacco products: 8.00%
Textile mills and textile product mills: -15.99%
Apparel and leather and allied products: -19.36%
Paper products: 2.89%
Printing and related support activities: -5.03%
Petroleum and coal products: 77.88%
Chemical products: 9.61%
Plastics and rubber products: 12.43%
The site I used for reference had data through 2003 but I believe the trends have continued.
With the exception of the energy and petro-chemical industries our manufacturing output has been dramatically decreasing as measured by percentage of GDP. The argument that we are losing jobs in manufacturing due to productivity is inaccurate. Our economy cannot continue to be the best and strongest in the world at this rate. A period of extreme negative adjustment lies ahead.
Reference date from: http://www.bea.gov/bea/industry/gpotables/gpo_action.cfm?anon=217&table_id=5214&format_type=0
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.
"The argument that we are losing jobs in manufacturing due to productivity [increases] is inaccurate."
Why do say that? Nothing in the data you present on the declining *share* of Gross Domestic Product from the manufacturing sector supports this statement. The total (not relative) value of output in manufacturing has risen slightly since the most recent recession, but the total number of manufacturing jobs has continued to decline, as it has for 30+ years. It must be true, therefore, that output per worker ("labor productivity") is rising, as it has for 30+ years.