Economy

Jane Hardy, the chief executive of a company that makes lawn care equipment, says she had to lay off 75 employees this summer because of President Donald Trump's trade war. As she fights to keep her southern Indiana business going, Hardy is one of the manufacturers warning the White House that, unless they see relief from the tariffs soon, job losses will mount and factory closures are likely.

Asheville, North Carolina, isn't just tourism and beer. Well, sometimes it's beer. But on the other side of the Great Recession, the city's economy has become increasingly tied to the manufacturing industry.

To determine the places where manufacturing growth is strongest, employment in the sector was looked at in 373 metropolitan statistical areas, assessing short-, medium- and long-term trends going back to 2006 and adding in variables for persistence and momentum.

Advanced economies always lean toward services as they grow. But there are many other advanced economies out there with more robust factory sectors than the United States, employing much larger shares of their workforces and spinning off much more productive research and development. Let’s not give up without a fight, which in this context means the application of smart policy at every level of government.

Looking back, two kinds of people lived in the United States in 2016: those who believed Donald Trump and those who believed data. But all was not as it seemed.

March U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $207.08 million, according to the United States Cutting Tool Institute, Cleveland, and The Association for Manufacturing Technology, McLean, Va. This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report collaboration, was up 8.8 percent from February’s $190.32 million and up 3.5 percent when compared with the $200.05 million reported for March 2017. With a year-to-date total of $581.02 million, 2018 is up 6 percent when compared with 2017.

The Institute for Supply Management reported that the April Purchasing Managers' Index registered 57.3 percent, a decrease of 2 percentage points from the March reading of 59.3 percent.

Manufacturing, which shed nearly a third of its workforce between 2000 and 2010, is rebounding as a solid path to the middle class. The industry has taken a more tech-intensive twist, making skills like practice in 3D design critical for future employment. Schools are taking notice.