Understanding U.S. manufacturing statistics

Source: Curious Cat

The United States has a service economy, and as the figure shows U.S. manufacturing has decreased as a portion of the U.S. economy to something on the order of 12 or 13 percent in 2008. However, that has to be put in context.

According to Shopfloor from last year:

The United Nations Statistics Division compiles global data on manufacturing value-added, and its most recent data shows the United States continues to lead, with close to 21 percent of all global manufacturing output in terms of constant dollars (real manufacturing value-added in 2009). China is the second largest, with about 15 percent of global manufacturing.

President Obama proposed to strengthen U.S. manufacturing and bring back some manufacturing jobs to America, and that of course is a good idea. It will help our economy somewhat and will held decrease unemployment, but that initiative will not change the U.S. economy back to the manufacturing economy of the past. The initiative should be something that will draw Republican support in the Congress this year, and be perhaps a small victory from a dysfunctional Congress.