, Columnist
Manufacturing Matters Even If It Doesn't Create Many Jobs
Making things goes hand in hand with the innovation that leads to growth.
Try squinting.
Photographer: Joseph Branston/macformat magazine/getty imagesManufacturing employment in the U.S. has been on the decline since the late 1970s. Trade with China and other countries has played a role in that, but probably not the biggest role.
For example, economists David Autor, David Dorn and Gordon H. Hanson have estimated that 985,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs disappeared from 1999 through 2011 because of competition from China. But as economist Paul Krugman put it: