Room For Debate: Can Manufacturing Fuel a U.S. Recovery?

Introduction

Fabrizio Costantini for the New York Times The General Motors Orion Assembly Plant in Lake Orion, Mich.

Yes, the economic news is grim this week.

Stocks plunged on Thursday amid heightened fears that the United States may be headed toward a double-dip recession. Today’s monthly jobs report, though better than expected, is unlikely to ease those concerns. Earlier in the week, a key index reported that manufacturers recorded their weakest growth in two years in July.

But is there a bright spot in the manufacturing numbers? While the growth slowed significantly, the trend is still up: output increased a small amount, and the sector has been expanding slowly but steadily for 24 consecutive months.

Is it possible that manufacturing might help the U.S. economy recover and produce needed jobs? Or is domestic manufacturing — at least in the traditional sense — a relic of the past, incapable of rescuing the American labor market?

 Read the Discussion »

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Topics: Economy, labor, unemployment

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Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=aaf36e5800834a05c7261684a2d4a376