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08.31.2023
The story of US Manufacturing in recent decades has largely been one of employment decline and the resulting economic, political, and cultural impacts in our communities. That’s certainly true in North Carolina as well, but Manufacturing’s experience since the 1990s also includes strong economic growth and rising productivity, especially leading up to the Great Recession. But, since the 2008 financial crash, Manufacturing’s economic output, productivity, and employment growth have been relatively flat, which points toward the benefits innovation could unleash for the industry. This second blog in a series on Manufacturing details how the industry has changed over the last few decades, while identifying Industry 4.0 technologies and trends that could shape the future.
Industry employment drastically declined over last 30 years
Manufacturing’s employment decline over the last three decades is well known to observers of North Carolina’s economy and the thousands of workers and communities impacted. Globalization, trade deficits, and, to a lesser extent, enhancements in process efficiency and automation during that time decimated industry employment in North Carolina and across the country. Employment in North Carolina’s Manufacturing sector declined by about 400,000 jobs or 48 percent between 1993 and 2010, shortly after the Great Recession. Since 1993, employment in North Carolina’s Manufacturing sector has decreased by nearly 360,000 or 43 percent. As the economy began recovering from the Great Recession, employment in the sector increased gradually but largely stayed around the same level. The national industry saw similar employment trends during these periods, albeit with a less severe decrease between the early 1990s and Great Recession and stronger growth since 2010.
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