US Manufacturing Decline History

Overall US Manufacturing Percent of Total Jobs

1950    32%

1970    28%

1980    21%

1990    17%

2000    15%

2010    10%

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4123648-long-term-job-decline-u-s-manufacturing

Rust Belt decline began in the 1950s. In 1950, 54% of employment was in manufacturing of steel, autos and other durable goods. 

Rust Belt Manufacturing Job Share

1950   54%

1960   49%

1970   42%

1980   39%

1990   35%

2000   34%

https://www.minneapolisfed.org/research/economic-policy-papers/competition-and-the-decline-of-the-rust-belt

Union manufacturing jobs have declined since the 1950s but were replaced by non-union manufacturing jobs in Right to Work States in the South in the 1960s. Foreign countries were requiring that US products be manufactured in their countries. Non-union manufacturing of electronics in the 1970s boomed in the 1980s and was off-shored in the 1990s and 2000s.

High US Corporate Taxes, high inflation and Union obstruction sabotaged US manufacturing.

By 2017, the US had lost 60,000 factories.  Since 2017, Trump has restored 10,000 of these factories and is imposing Tariffs to restore manufacturing to the US economy to restore middle class jobs.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader