The great American manufacturing myth became known to me through a series of facts—I prefer to call it reality.
The seed was planted some time in the 1980s, when somewhere up in northern Connecticut, I ended up in a foundry.
It was bound to happen, what with my father being a metallurgist and all.
I vaguely recall men in weird suits, sparks flying all over the place, and my personal favorite—chocolate in the break room.
The men, by the way, were making iron and steel castings for customers in the agricultural, energy, and automotive industries (among others).
I’ve been informed, however, this type of work has since dried up.
After all, that’s the manufacturing myth, usually told by people who’ve never worked a day in the industry.
I’m one of those people, and I might have continued to spread such misinformation if not for a minor detail: I opted to raise my family in the Rust Belt.
The story of death, the one I kept hearing, did not match what I was seeing.
That discrepancy led me to a data set courtesy the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), which as an honest tax-paying citizen of the country, I believe I’m allowed to access.
There, among the fine print, the kind that reminds me that bifocals might be on the horizon, I found a few numbers.
In 2025, the nominal GDP of the US hovered around $31 trillion. Manufacturing—that of durable and nondurable goods—accounted for over $2.9 trillion, or 9.5 percent of total.
To put that in perspective, if the US had no other economy outside of manufacturing, it would still have the eighth-largest economy in the world, ahead of Italy, Russia, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, and so on.
Only one country contributes more to global manufacturing activity. Yes, it’s China, which also has four times the American population.
Being the internet addict that I am, I had no choice but to zoom in further.
Just how misleading is the great American manufacturing myth?
As of 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fourteen US states had over 300,000 manufacturing jobs each. All eight that border the Great Lakes (Rust Belt anybody?) were on the list.
Yet somehow, when the residents of these states express concerns about American manufacturing, they’re considered delusional?
Perhaps those who just know better, say those on the coasts, would prefer if such people devoted themselves to something more meaningful—say latte art.
Or perhaps, even among the educated, reality is no match for the rhetoric of mythology.
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