19 facts about the rapid deindustrialization of America
Via Business Insider -
1 - The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001
About 75 percent of those factories employed over 500 people when they were still in operation. Source: The American Prospect
2 - Dell Inc. has announced plans to dramatically expand its operations in China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.
3 - Dell has announced that it will be closing its last large U.S. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.
4 - In 2008, 1.2 billion cellphones were sold worldwide. So how many of them were manufactured inside the United States? Zero.
Source: The American Prospect
5 - If our trade deficit with China increases at its current rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million jobs this year alone.
Source: Economic Policy Institute [PDF]
6 - As of the end of July, the trade deficit with China had risen 18 percent compared to the same time period a year ago.
Source: Economic Policy Institute [PDF]
7 - The United States has lost a total of about 5.5 million manufacturing jobs since October 2000.
Source: The American Prospect
8 - From 1999 to 2008, employment at the foreign affiliates of US parent companies increased an astounding 30 percent to 10.1 million
Source: Tax Analysts [PDF]
9 - In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output. In 2008, it represented 11.5 percent.
Source: The American Prospect
10 - Ford Motor Company recently announced the closure of a factory that produces the Ford Ranger in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Source: Economy In Crisis
11 - As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last time less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.
Source: The American Prospect
12 - In America today, consumption accounts for 70 percent of GDP. Of this 70 percent, over half is spent on services.
Source: Economy In Crisis
13 - The United States has lost a whopping 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.
Source: The American Prospect
14 - In 2001, the United States ranked fourth in the world in per capita broadband Internet use. Today it ranks 15th.
Source: MACLEANS.CA
15 - Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.
Source: Businessweek
16 - Printed circuit boards are used in tens of thousands of different products. Asia now produces 84 percent of them worldwide.
Source: The American Prospect
17 - The United States spends approximately $3.90 on Chinese goods for every $1 that the Chinese spend on goods from the United States.
Source: The Economic Collapse
18 - A prominent economist is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040.
Source: MarketWatch
19 - The Census Bureau says 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty, which is the highest number of poor Americans in the 51 years that records have been kept.
Source: Washington Post