The health of the U.S. manufacturing sector is of intense interest to Congress. Hundreds of bills aimed at promoting manufacturing are under consideration in the 112th Congress, often with the stated goal of creating jobs. Implicit in many of these bills is the assumption that the manufacturing sector is uniquely able to provide well-paid employment for workers who have not pursued advanced education. However, as manufacturing processes have changed, factories with large numbers of workers have become much less common than they once were. This suggests that promotion of manufacturing as a tool to stimulate local economies is likely to meet with limited success; even if newly established factories prosper, few are likely to require large amounts of labor. Contents of this report: Introduction; Employment in the Manufacturing Sector; The Changing Character of Manufacturing Work; The Disappearance of the Large Factory; Start-ups and Shutdowns; Selected Policy Issues for Congress.

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