Lynn E. Browne, in New England
Economic Review (July-Aug. 1986), ~ederal
Reserve Bank of Boston, Boston, Mass. 02106.
One of the traditional yardsticks of economic strength is manufacturing.
Throughout most of this century, the United States boasted robust manufacturing industries (e.g., steel, motor vehicles). They consistently employed roughly 25 percent of the labor force-until 1969, when con- traction set in. 1985, the number of workers who actually produced something tangible had sunk to...