Susan Houseman on Manufacturing

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2019

⏱️ 76 minutes

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Summary

Economist Susan Houseman of the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research talks about the manufacturing sector with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Houseman argues that the data surrounding both manufacturing output and employment have been misunderstood and misinterpreted. In particular, she argues that conclusions about the growth of manufacturing are driven overwhelmingly by computer production while the rest of manufacturing has been stagnant. She also argues that productivity has a small role in reducing manufacturing employment. Trade has been the main cause of employment reductions. These claims go against the standard narratives most economists have been telling for the last 20 years.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:07.8	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:12.7	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find
0:17.6	links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:20.6	We'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:24.9	back to 2006.
0:27.1	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:29.6	We'd love to hear from you.
0:33.7	Today is September 4, 2019 and my guest is economist Susan Haasman.
0:38.7	She's Vice President and Director of Research at the Up John Institute for Employment Research.
0:44.2	She is a labor economist whose recent work focuses on domestic outsourcing, off-shore
0:49.2	and manufacturing and measurement issues and economic statistics.
0:53.1	Our topic for today is what has been happening to manufacturing in the United States.
0:57.5	Susan, welcome to Econ Talk.
0:59.5	I'm glad.
1:00.5	Happy to be here.
1:02.3	Until I read your work, I thought I understood what's been happening to manufacturing
1:06.4	in the United States.
1:08.6	Manufacturing employment has been falling pretty steadily as a proportion of total employment
1:12.8	since the end of World War II.
1:15.2	In the first decade of the 21st century, even the absolute number of manufacturing employees,
1:20.0	not just a proportion.
	...

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