Around 1970 the U.S. entered a new phase in which manufacturing, the engine of American prosperity, began to falter. The problem, felt particularly in the North, sometimes came with little warning to workers, as factories suddenly closed or moved to less unionized areas, such as the Sunbelt and overseas. More typically, however, there was a gradual reduction in Northern jobs as corporations failed to invest in improved plants and technology.

The U.S. lost 9 percent of its manufacturing jobs between 1967 and 2001, but in the industrial heartland--the Northeast and the Midwest--the loss reached more than 40 percent. Because of phenomenal increases in output per worker, manufacturing output rose sharply. But as the chart shows, a steadily decreasing proportion of American workers was employed in manufacturing. This process is markedly similar to the historical decline of farming, in which a progressively smaller number of people produced an expanding volume of goods.

This article was originally published with the title Deindustrialization.

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