The China shock (manufacturing job losses from outsourcing to China) is ancient history—it basically happened in roughly the first decade of this century, and since then the share of manufacturing employment in total US employment has been remarkably stable with no repeat of the extraordinary shift, making efforts to bring back those lost industries likely to be very costly and mostly unproductive.

factualpending

Speaker

Martin Wolf

Evidence Quote

the China shock is ancient history if you look at the data basically happened in roughly the first decade of this century and since then actually the share of manufacturing employment in total employment in the US has been remarkably stable [41:11]

Source

How Martin Wolf Understands This Global Economic MomentThe Ezra Klein Show
Created: 8/12/2026, 6:24:34 PM

My Notes

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