Economists offer more pessimistic view on manufacturing in upcoming report

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Economists offer more pessimistic view on manufacturing in upcoming report

By Peter Whoriskey / The Washington Post, Published: March 19

During the 2000s, as U.S. manufacturing was transformed by devastating job losses, prominent economists and presidential advisers offered comforting words.

The paring of the manufacturing workforce — it shrunk by a third over the decade — actually represented good news, they said. It meant that U.S. workers and factories had become more efficient and, as a result, manufacturing companies needed fewer people.
....

“The decline in U.S. manufacturing employment is explained by rapid growth in manufacturing productivity over the past 50 years,” said Glenn Hubbard, former chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush.

But a handful of economists have begun to challenge that explanation, chipping away at the long-offered assurances that the state of U.S. manufacturing is not as bad as the jobs numbers make it look.

Instead, they say, it’s significantly worse.

It's hard to find just one "money quote" from this article. Every paragraph is discouraging. Read it and weep.

Edited: like Romulox, who posted the first response, I read the article in the print edition yesterday. I brought the paper to work today so I could post the article at DU. It was hard for me to limit myself to just the few paragraphs that would constitute fair use. The article has drawn a great deal of attention; as I write, it has attracted 1,570 comments.

The article has been picked up by a few other newspapers. For example, the Bend (Oregon) Bulletin:

Economists sour on productivity claims

[Romulox]

1. I read this entire article in the Post yesterday. Its argument is compelling. nt