Manufacturing Works

The manufacturing industry-in the United States-alone employs 17 million workers.

Behind Manufacturing Works there is one simple premise: America’s manufacturing base drives its prosperity. The industrial sector is special because of its size, its ability to generate innovation and value, its importance to national security, its role in meeting people’s wants and needs, and the dignity of the work it provides for 17 million Americans. The combined problems of a worsening U.S. trade balance, mounting layoffs, and uncertainties in financial markets are heightening the need to strengthen the U.S. industrial base in order to sustain the prosperity the nation has enjoyed in recent years.

Based on the landmark study they created to explore the American manufacturing landscape, authors Fred Zimmerman and Dave Beal take a hard look at this often-unappreciated section in 232 key counties. Zimmerman and Beal build their case through concise research, scores of interviews, and many visits to factory floors.

The intelligent discussion of Manufacturing Works will be appreciated and respected by labor leaders, corporate executives, people interested in public policy, and rank-and-file factory workers. The book initiates a provocative discussion on how comparative advantage can be created and lost, including:

• Appraisal of the U.S. industrial base, which was the principal force behind prosperity in the 1990s but was overshadowed by Internet-related companies and other parts of the economy

• Critical analysis of how American manufacturing has survived despite many pressures from home and abroad

• Explanation of why a strong manufacturing sector remains essential to the long-term survival of our nation’s economy

Made more comprehensible through graphics, tables, and maps, Manufacturing Works tells the stories of the workers, managers, community leaders, and others-the faces behind the data.