Measuring Manufacturing’s Significance in the USA

What is it about?

Manufacturing capabilities are fundamental to society but the macro-economic metrics that describe manufacturing’s role in the economy do not reflect the same contributions as they have in the past. Many of the functions that were once part of the manufacturing enterprise are now being procured as services from other sectors of the economy. As manufacturing becomes more automated, the significance of manufacturing to the economy will appear even more diminished using these metrics. This article raises the issue of how to better represent manufacturing’s role. It suggests a new metric that may better reflect manufacturing’s contributions to our national economy as a starting point for a much broader discussion of how to measure the significance of manufacturing to society.

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