WASHINGTON — It might seem like the country that used to make everything is on the brink of making nothing.
In January, 207,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs vanished in the largest one-month drop since October 1982. Factory activity is hovering at a 28-year low. Even before the recession, plants were hemorrhaging work to foreign competitors with cheap labor, and some companies were moving production overseas.
But manufacturing in the United States isn’t dead or even dying.
It’s moving upscale, following the biggest profits, and becoming more efficient, just as Henry Ford did when he created the assembly line to make the Model T.
The U.S. by far remains the world’s leading manufacturer by value of goods produced. It hit a record $1.6 trillion in 2007 — nearly double the $811 billion in 1987. For every $1 of value produced in China’s factories, America generates $2.50.
So what is made in the USA these days? The U.S. sold more than $200 billion worth of aircraft, missiles and space- related equipment in 2007. And $80 billion worth of autos and auto parts.
Deere & Co. sold $16.5 billion worth of farming equipment last year, much of it to the rest of the world. Then there are energy products such as gas turbines for power plants made by General Electric, computer chips from Intel and fighter jets from Lockheed Martin. Household names such as GE, General Motors, IBM, Boeing and Hewlett-Packard are among the largest manufacturers by revenue.
Several trends have emerged over the decades:
• America makes things that other countries can’t. Today, “Made in USA” is more likely to be stamped on heavy equipment or the circuits that go inside other products than the items found on store shelves.
• U.S. companies have shifted toward high-end manufacturing as the production of low-value goods moves overseas. This has resulted in lower prices for shoppers and higher profits for companies.
• Thirty years ago, U.S. producers made 80 percent of what the country consumed, according to the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, an industry trade group. Now it’s about 65 percent.
• American factories still provide much of the processed food that Americans buy, everything from frozen fish sticks to cans of beer.
