Manufacturing leaving the US in mass was always a myth.
Uh, figures?
It is one thing to say the US remained a manufacturer but to say the US didn't offshore a significant portion of its manufacturing capacity would seem to be an extraordinary claim which requires evidence, right?
The proportion of consumer goods I see which are marked "made in China" today approaches something like a hundred percent. Sure, there are other significant USA industries that produce a lot (and naturally have increased their output via automation) but it seems badly-spoken to say claim manufacturing leaving the US is myth. Some industries have left, "in mass", even.
Yet America remains by far the No. 1 manufacturing country. It out-produces No. 2 China by more than 40 percent. U.S. manufacturers cranked out nearly $1.7 trillion in goods in 2009, according to the United Nations.
The story of American factories essentially boils down to this: They've managed to make more goods with fewer workers.
Then point to numbers showing they have left in mass. If such a large part of manufacturing has left then how does the US (according the 2009 report linked) still lead the world in manufacturing output? Are productivity increases enough to make up for manufacturing leaving at the levels many people like think? I certainly don't think so.
Pointing to manufacturing jobs going away is an invalid metric to start. Manufacturing jobs are gone and going, but it's not something that can be stopped. Some jobs were moved overseas, but many have simply been automated away. Over time even the ones overseas will be automated away.
It is a myth. America is still the top manufacturer in the world.
The difference is that China makes tons of duplicate copies of cheap goods, while America makes high value, lower run, complicated goods.
Which is why if you look only at consumer good you get the mistaken assumption that manufacturing is leaving the US. Try sourcing $100,000 machines and all of them are made in the US.
The "myth" claimed by the OP was that manufacturers have left the US. That is not a myth despite the US remaining a top manufacturing country - because, as you say, what remained specialized, high-value items (planes, chemicals).
A large number of particular manufacturers left the US.
Depends on how you measure it, employment or dollars. If in employment, yes, much left; in dollars, relative to what was produced domestically, not so much.
As to your "make in China" - you'd have to buy many, many t-shirts or DVD players to even approach the magnitude of money going around in making, for example, Caterpillar construction equipment or BMW X5's.
Uh, figures?
It is one thing to say the US remained a manufacturer but to say the US didn't offshore a significant portion of its manufacturing capacity would seem to be an extraordinary claim which requires evidence, right?
The proportion of consumer goods I see which are marked "made in China" today approaches something like a hundred percent. Sure, there are other significant USA industries that produce a lot (and naturally have increased their output via automation) but it seems badly-spoken to say claim manufacturing leaving the US is myth. Some industries have left, "in mass", even.