Good Jobs and the Cutting Edge

Good, stable jobs with high earnings started to disappear from the United States economy in the late 1970s. The loss of the majority of these jobs resulted from structural changes, not cyclical variations in the manufacturing sector. Robert Forrant, of the University of Massachusetts Lowell, studies the machine tool industry’s role in the decline of the US manufacturing base, focusing on Japan’s ability to surpass the United States in efficient production and the adoption of new technology.