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New Perspectives on the Decline of U.S. Manufacturing Employment

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  • Teresa C. Fort
  • Justin R. Pierce
  • Peter K. Schott

Abstract

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

Suggested Citation

  • Teresa C. Fort & Justin R. Pierce & Peter K. Schott, 2018. "New Perspectives on the Decline of U.S. Manufacturing Employment," Working Papers 18-17, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    • Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:18-17
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    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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