The role of manufacturing.

The part manufacturing plays in the U.S. economy has changed in very complicated ways over the past 50 years. In 1960, people who worked in manufacturing made up 28 percent of the non-farm workforce. That number has fallen to barely more than 10 percent in 2006. And manufacturing's contribution to the gross domestic product has fallen from more than 25 percent to a little over 12 percent.

But at the same time, the value of output has doubled, even after accounting for inflation. In 2000 dollars, manufacturing added more than $1.3 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2006; adjusted to the same values, the 1960 manufacturing contribution to the economy was $646 billion. What this means is that fewer workers add much more value than they did 50 years ago. This increase in productivity keeps important segments of American manufacturing competitive with places where labor costs are lower.

Manufacturing plays a big role in many states. It makes up more than 15 percent of the economy in 15 states. Indiana is by far more dependent on manufacturing than any other state: 28 percent of its gross product comes from factories.

The shift of manufacturing to the South is also evident, with Louisiana, North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama and Kentucky in the top 10 states in their dependence on manufacturing for gross state product. The District of Columbia has hardly any manufacturing (measured at 0.2 percent) and Alaska and Hawaii, both remote from other markets, have the two smallest manufacturing sectors.