Factoid: US Manufacturing in 2014

Back in January, Mark Perry providesdanother empirical nugget, this time about US manufacturing

10 Largest US Manufacturing Industries, 2014	Revenue (Millions)	Examples
1	Petroleum & Coal Products	$1,617,688	Exxon, Chevron, Conoco
2	Computers & Other Electronic Products	$788,267	HP, IBM, Apple
3	Chemicals	$455,087	P&G, Dow, DuPont
4	Food	$377,850	General Mills, Kellogg, Hershey
5	Motor Vehicles	$350,695	Ford, GM, Harley
6	Pharmaceuticals	$311,292	J&J, Pfizer, Merck
7	Machinery	$284,866	Caterpillar, Deere, Xerox
8	Aerospace & Defense	$275,893	Boeing, Lockheed Martin
9	Electrical Equipment & Appliances	$239,477	GE, Emerson, Whirlpool
10	Motor Vehicle Parts	$141,430	Johnson Controls, Cummins, Lear
	Total	$4,842,545

Perry notes that the combined revenue of these ten industries ($4.8 trillion) is equivalent to the entire GDP of Japan, the world 3rd largest economy. So, this is another "the rumors of manufacturing's demise have been greatly exaggerated" factoid.

However, such factoids always come with a qualifier about employment cuts  in manufacturing. As the FRED data on employment in US manufacturing below shows, manufacturers just don't employ as many people any more.

The big slide was from 17.32 million in July 2001 to 11.46 million in January 2010 (albeit with a three year pause at around 14.2 million from 2003-2006). By December 2014, employment had grown to 12.23 million. July 1979, 19.53 million.

This slide is even more significant if one thinks in terms of the size of the US population. In 1980, the US population was about 226 million, so the 19 million manufacturing employees made up 8.4% of the population. In 2010, the US population was about 308 million and the 12 million manufacturing employees accounted for only 3.8% of the population.