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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Economics

Susan N. Houseman

Productivity

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Understanding The Decline Of U.S. Manufacturing Employment, Susan N. Houseman Jun 2018

Understanding The Decline Of U.S. Manufacturing Employment, Susan N. Houseman

Susan N. Houseman

U.S. manufacturing experienced a precipitous and historically unprecedented decline in employment in the 2000s. Many economists and other analysts—pointing to decades of statistics showing that manufacturing real (inflation-adjusted) output growth has largely kept pace with private sector real output growth, that productivity growth has been much higher, and that the sector’s share of aggregate employment has been declining—argue that manufacturing’s job losses are largely the result of productivity growth (assumed to reflect automation) and are part of a long-term trend. Since the 1980s, however, the apparently robust growth in manufacturing real output and productivity have been driven by a relatively …


Measuring Manufacturing: How The Computer And Semiconductor Industries Affect The Numbers And Perceptions, Susan N. Houseman, Timothy J. Bartik, Timothy J. Sturgeon Feb 2015

Measuring Manufacturing: How The Computer And Semiconductor Industries Affect The Numbers And Perceptions, Susan N. Houseman, Timothy J. Bartik, Timothy J. Sturgeon

Susan N. Houseman

Growth in U.S. manufacturing’s real value-added has exceeded that of aggregate GDP, except during recessions, leading many to conclude that the sector is healthy and that the 30 percent decline in manufacturing employment since 2000 is largely the consequence of automation. The robust growth in real manufacturing GDP, however, is driven by one industry segment: computers and electronic products. In most of manufacturing, real GDP growth has been weak or negative and productivity growth modest. The extraordinary real GDP growth in computer-related industries reflects prices for computers and semiconductors that, when adjusted for product quality improvements, are falling rapidly. Productivity …


The Role Of Manufacturing In A Jobs Recovery, Susan Houseman Feb 2015

The Role Of Manufacturing In A Jobs Recovery, Susan Houseman

Susan N. Houseman

No abstract provided.