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  4. Spring 2018
  5. New Perspectives on the Decline of US Manufacturing Employment

New Perspectives on the Decline of US Manufacturing Employment

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Abstract

We use relatively unexplored dimensions of US microdata to examine how US manufacturing employment has evolved across industries, firms, establishments, and regions. These data provide support for both trade- and technology-based explanations of the overall decline of employment over this period, while also highlighting the difficulties of estimating an overall contribution for each mechanism. Toward that end, we discuss how more careful analysis of these trends might yield sharper insights.

Citation

Fort, Teresa C., Justin R. Pierce, and Peter K. Schott. 2018. "New Perspectives on the Decline of US Manufacturing Employment." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 32 (2): 47-72. DOI: 10.1257/jep.32.2.47

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • E24 Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
  • J21 Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
  • J23 Labor Demand
  • L60 Industry Studies: Manufacturing: General
  • R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics
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