The de-industrialisation of the West

Five charts to start your day

President Trump has promised to revitalise American manufacturing through sweeping tariffs, tapping into nostalgia for an era when factory jobs provided middle-class wages to millions. The data, however, tells a very different story about what really happened to these jobs.

In 1950, nearly one in three American workers were employed in manufacturing. Today, it's just one in twelve. Trump blames this decline squarely on international trade and offshoring to countries like China.

Most economists strongly disagree with this narrative. Research from Ball State University found that 88 percent of manufacturing job losses between 2000 and 2010 resulted from productivity improvements – not trade. New technologies simply allowed companies to produce more goods with fewer workers.