[buescher]

Short answer: yes. Despite the doomsayers and the fact that you might not know anyone that works in manufacturing, the US is still a manufacturing powerhouse. https://www.brookings.edu/research/global-manufacturing-scor... At 18% of global manufacturing output already, "a net gain of 67,000 workers above prepandemic levels" is not going to move the needle.

[mlsu]

This statistic is often trotted out.

It's in dollars, which is very misleading and forms an incomplete picture of the ecosystem required to have true manufacturing ability. We do final assembly on an automobile and that gets registered as big $$$. But it's actually pretty easy to assemble a bunch of already-made parts. Much more difficult (and quite a lot of skill, built up over decades) to make the fuel pump from raw inputs! We lack completely the lower three-quarters of the pyramid.

By this same logic, I did $500 in manufacturing this quarter because I assembled two Billy bookcase... nah.

You don't know anyone because... we don't do a lot of manufacturing. The pre-made imported parts come into a handful of Toyota factories, and a whole bunch of very expensive SUVs come out. That's how you can get such a high $$$ number and not know anyone who works manufacturing.

[buescher]

Sure, the whole supply chain is not in the US, and less of it is in the US than in past decades. That is not the point.

You probably don't know anyone who works in manufacturing because you're in the demographic that reads hackernews. Using the automotive industry as an example is a big tell, you know, because a whole lot more than cars is manufactured in the US. Manufacturing is not a huge percentage of US employment, but it is much, much bigger than you think in raw numbers. Go look it up - 67,000 does not move the needle, though it's a big percentage of new jobs.

[MisterMower]

It’s all final assembly automotive and aerospace.

It’s not real manufacturing. All the real components from screws to relays to sheet metal and injection molded plastic parts are made somewhere other than the US.

But yeah, if you export 300 787’s and A320’s each year, you’ll get the false impression the US is a manufacturing “powerhouse.”

[PenguinCoder]

Gatekeep much?

[Red_Leaves_Flyy]

That’s not gatekeeping, it’s disambiguating disingenuous statistic usage that implies a reality that that dos not exist.

[MisterMower]

Refute arguments much? Explain where I’m mistaken.

[buescher]

You're just wrong. Yes, US manufacturing is mostly high-value-add stuff. Because wages are high. Don't go into hock to start a toothpick factory in the USA. But go look up how many people are employed in manufacturing. 67,000 does not move the needle, though it's probably a lot as a percentage of new jobs.

And automotive and aerospace are not the two biggest sectors of US manufacturing. (Boeing was the largest exporter for years though, probably still is). Look it up.

[MisterMower]

Is mating two fuselage sections made in Mexico and slapping on engines made in Malaysia manufacturing? Not in my book. That’s assembly, not manufacturing, regardless of how lucrative it may be.

[buescher]

You're just wrong. US manufacturing is a lot more than final assembly of airplanes and automobiles. Aerospace and automotive aren't the top manufacturing sectors either. You're just wrong about that. You can look up that you're just wrong, but you're not bothering to. You can look up that final assembly is manufacturing - your book is just wrong. Why should I take "your book" seriously about anything?