Figure XX
It’s not technology killing manufacturing—employment was steady for 35 years between 1965 and 2000: Manufacturing employment and trade deficit with China, 1965–2015
| Trade balance | Manufacturing employment | |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 | 0.00% | 17051 |
| 1966 | 0.00% | 17998 |
| 1967 | 0.00% | 18025 |
| 1968 | 0.00% | 18410 |
| 1969 | 0.00% | 18485 |
| 1970 | 0.00% | 17309 |
| 1971 | 0.00% | 17202 |
| 1972 | 0.00% | 18158 |
| 1973 | 0.00% | 18820 |
| 1974 | 0.00% | 17693 |
| 1975 | 0.00% | 17140 |
| 1976 | 0.00% | 17719 |
| 1977 | 0.00% | 18531 |
| 1978 | 0.00% | 19334 |
| 1979 | 0.00% | 19301 |
| 1980 | 0.00% | 18640 |
| 1981 | 0.00% | 18223 |
| 1982 | 0.00% | 16690 |
| 1983 | 0.00% | 17551 |
| 1984 | 0.00% | 18023 |
| 1985 | 0.00% | 17693 |
| 1986 | 0.04% | 17478 |
| 1987 | 0.06% | 17809 |
| 1988 | 0.07% | 18025 |
| 1989 | 0.11% | 17881 |
| 1990 | 0.17% | 17395 |
| 1991 | 0.21% | 16916 |
| 1992 | 0.28% | 16769 |
| 1993 | 0.33% | 16815 |
| 1994 | 0.40% | 17217 |
| 1995 | 0.44% | 17231 |
| 1996 | 0.49% | 17284 |
| 1997 | 0.58% | 17588 |
| 1998 | 0.63% | 17449 |
| 1999 | 0.71% | 17280 |
| 2000 | 0.82% | 17181 |
| 2001 | 0.78% | 15711 |
| 2002 | 0.94% | 14912 |
| 2003 | 1.08% | 14300 |
| 2004 | 1.32% | 14287 |
| 2005 | 1.54% | 14193 |
| 2006 | 1.69% | 14015 |
| 2007 | 1.79% | 13746 |
| 2008 | 1.82% | 12850 |
| 2009 | 1.57% | 11475 |
| 2010 | 1.82% | 11595 |
| 2011 | 1.90% | 11802 |
| 2012 | 1.95% | 11960 |
| 2013 | 1.91% | 12086 |
| 2014 | 1.98% | 12294 |
| 2015 | 2.04% | 12320 |
Note: Data on manufacturing employment are from Current Employment Statistics (CES) program of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Data on Chinese trade balance are from the Census Bureau. As a share of GDP, the US/China trade balance was 0.00% in 1985 (first year of data availability). We assume this value holds for pre-1985 years as well.
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