Why Manufacturing Still Matters

Louis Uchitelle covered economics and labor issues for the New York Times for twenty-five years. He is the author of Making It: Why Manufacturing Still Matters and The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences. In the 1950s manufacturing generated nearly 30 percent of U.S. income. Over the past fifty-five years, that share has gradually declined to less than 12 percent at the same time that real estate, finance, and Wall Street trading have grown. Louis Uchitelle explains why manufacturing still matters in the USA.