7,231,000 Lost Jobs: Manufacturing Employment Down 37% From 1979 Peak

CNS ^ | May 12, 2015 | Terence P. Jeffrey

[xzins]

The number of jobs in manufacturing has declined by 7,231,000--or 37 percent--since employment in manufacturing peaked in the United States in 1979, according to data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The real median household income of Americans who have completed high school--but have not attained a higher degree--also peaked in the 1970s and has declined since then.

In fact, according to the Census Bureau (Tables H-13 and H-14), the real median household income of an American householder who has completed four years of high school peaked in 1973 at $56,395 in constant 2013 dollars. By 2013, it was down to $40,701. That is a drop of $15,694--or 27.8 percent. (The Census Bureau's Table H-14 publishes the annual median household income from 1960 through 1990 of householders who have "completed" four years of high school. Table H-13 publishes the annual median household income of householders who have 'graduated" from high school or its equivalency from 1991 through 2013.)

According to the BLS’s seasonally adjusted employment numbers, employment in the U.S. manufacturing sector hit a peak of 19,553,000 in June 1979. In April 2015, there were only 12,322,000 employed in the manufacturing sector. That is a decline of 7,231,000—or 37 percent.

The decline has even been greater as a share of the civilian noninstitutional population, which includes all U.S. residents 16 and older who are not on active duty in the military or in an institution such as a prison or nursing home. (This is the population number that forms the foundation of the BLS’s employment numbers.)

In April 1973, the year median household income peaked for householders who have completed high school but not earned a higher degree, there were 146,459,000 in the civilian noninstitutional population and employment in manufacturing was 18,359,000—or 12.5 percent of the civilian noninstitutional population.

In April 2015, there were 250,266,000 in the civilian noninstitutional population and employment in manufacturing was 12,272,000—or 4.9 percent of the civilian population.

In 1973, manufacturing employment as a share of the civilian noninstutional population was 2.5 times what it is today.

[DAC21]

I’m one of the seven million.

[bert]

actually, globalization is driven by competition.

the competition is driven by enormous change in communications and transportation and ease of money flow

[xzins]

and cost is the key ingredient FOR competition.

[expat_panama]

That's one of the reasons the 7m cut in manufacturing jobs is not the crisis --because even w/ 'em back we'd still be short.  The other reason is that even with the drop in manufacturing employment America's goods production is soaring.  U.S. per-capita goods production in real $ is now more than twice what it was in 1979.  iow, compared to the '79 peak America makes a lot more stuff w/ a lot less effort even after adjusting for population and inflation.

 

[xzins]

Wouldn’t you rather have your job back than get to extol the virtues of free trade?

[xzins]

an overabundance of available work is not a bad thing for workers.

[central_va]

gloBULLists have no allegiance to any country. Borders are the enemy.

[SunkenCiv]

The Obama Recession

to go with

The Obama Tax Hikes

[expat_panama]

...an overabundance of available work is not a bad thing for workers...

That sounds right but when we think about it an employee does not become better off when his employer can't hire more employees --but let's get back on topic:  compared to the '79 peak America now makes a lot more stuff w/ a lot less effort and American households now make more money after inflation than they did in '79.   The article's bogus.

[riverdawg]

“My sense is that globalization drives this more than automation”

I toured an automobile plant here in the U.S. a few years ago. It was amazing how few workers were required to build the vehicles and how quiet the main assembly line was.

[bert]

Your confusion of conspiratorial ppolitics with business indicates you general ignorance of the world

[central_va]

Your opinion that there is no downside to offshoring is plain disingenuous.

[xzins]

Competition for a thing cause the price of a thing to rise. Scarcity of a thing cause competition for a thing to rise.

[xzins]

I’m assuming a cheap worker in China can be taught to be the human monitor of a line of machines as easily as any other human being.

[riverdawg]

“I’m assuming a cheap worker in China can be taught to be the human monitor of a line of machines as easily as any other human being.”

Apparently not. Otherwise, all of those Toyotas made in KY and Hondas made in OH would instead be made in China.

[central_va]

Reagan saved auto manufacturing by requiring importers to build a percentage of their cars here.

[riverdawg]

My memory may be slightly off on this, but I recall that Reagan negotiated “voluntary” import quotas on Japanese-built cars. The major Japanese auto manufacturers then responded by building new plants here and developing partnerships to build cars jointly with US auto companies at existing US plants (e.g., the NUMMI plant in CA, which now is owned by Tesla.. Those import restraints are long gone, but the Japanese-owned plants here crank out more cars than we now import from Japan.

[xzins]

Then count on their being a financial reason for do so.

[riverdawg]

“Then count on their being a financial reason for do[ing] so.”

Of course, but automation (really, robotics) has allowed both U.S. and Japanese auto companies, and firms in many other manufacturing industries, to operate plants here profitably (rather than exclusively in China - or Mexico - where the relatively low-cost labor resides). This is the driving force behind the decline in manufacturing employment. As other posters have noted, our manufacturing sectors produces more stuff now than ever; it just does so with fewer workers.

[xzins]

There would be some truth in what you say, but the automation jobs in high tech that result from lost manufacturing jobs have just about ALL gone to immigrants for some strange reason or other.

I also believe that viable US companies using US workers with producer-worthy wages, prove that profits can be had, workers can be paid, without automation, and on this side of the water.