The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. manufacturing sector lost 18,000 jobs in September 2007. With these job losses, total employment in U.S. manufacturing fell to 13,983,000. This marks the first time since June 1950 (57 years) that fewer than 14 million persons have been employed by U.S. manufacturing.
Since that time, the U.S. population has doubled from 150 million to 303 million – including a 54 million consumer (person) gain since 1990. U.S. GDP in real terms has grown by approximately 550 percent since 1950, and has grown by more than 50 percent since 1992.
“This is a black day for U.S. manufacturing. Even with productivity gains, U.S. manufacturing should be adding millions of jobs, not losing them, because of substantial U.S. growth in population, GDP and demand for manufactured goods," said American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC) Executive Director Auggie Tantillo. “The manufacturing employment numbers are painful sign of just how much market share U.S. manufacturing has lost to imports,” he continued.
Seasonally adjusted U.S. manufacturing employment peaked at 19,553,000 in June 1979. By January 2001, it had fallen to 17,105,000. With today's total at less than 14 million, 3.122 million U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost in the last six years and nine months.
As the United States has shed more than 3 million middle-class manufacturing jobs since January 2001, it has run a cumulative tradedeficit in Manufactured Goods in excess of $3 trillion. U.S. trade deficit is on track to hit approximately $725 billion in 2007, with imports of Manufactured Goods projected to account for more than $540 billion of that total. The U.S. trade deficit in Manufactured Goods with China alone is expected to exceed $270 billion in 2007.
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