SUMMARY

This study assesses the widely-held belief that manufacturing industries are uniquely important to the process of national economic growth. The study’s related purpose is to describe structural changes in the U.S. manufacturing sector and the organization of U.S. manufacturing firms that are helping to determine the pace of economic growth and the creation of economic opportunity. Taken together, these changes comprise the new face of American manufacturing.

Manufacturing and National Economic Growth

Summary

Abstract

PREFACE

Previous research shows that both exporting and the use of advanced technologies independently enhance the performance of U.S. manufacturing plants in a variety of ways. The research presented below shows that plants that both export and use advanced technology outperform other plants in a number of important ways: they increase their employment more rapidly, they pay higher wages, and they are less likely to fail. The research also shows that manufacturing plants that use advanced technologies are more likely to export.