Around 1970 the U.S. entered a new phase in which manufacturing,
the engine of American prosperity, began to falter. The problem,
felt particularly in the North, sometimes came with little
warning to workers, as factories suddenly closed or moved to
less unionized areas, such as the Sunbelt and overseas. More
typically, however, there was a gradual reduction in Northern
jobs as corporations failed to invest in improved plants and
technology. The U.S. lost 9 percent of its manufacturing jobs
between 1967 and 2001, but in the industrial heartland--the
Northeast and the Midwest--the loss reached more than 40
percent. Because of phenomenal increases in output per worker,
manufacturing output rose sharply. But as the chart shows, a
steadily decreasing proportion of American workers was employed
in manufacturing. This process is markedly similar to the
historical decline of farming, in which a progressively smaller
number of people produced an expanding volume of goods. This
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