Everyone seems willing to venture answers to these questions. As a first step in this process, it is necessary to question the viability of the existing employment classifications upon which our assessments of manufacturing employment are based. As anyone familiar with SIC codes will attest, the amount of detail allowed for the manufacturing sector is noticeably greater than for the service sector. But, while these classifications may have served us well during the manufacturing era, today they are showing signs of age. Let me argue that we must be more realistic and extend the definition of manufacturing activity to include both goods and services.
Manufacturers produce both final goods for consumers and inputs for other firms.
Today, manufacturing firms that utilize computer inputs tend to rely far more on personal computers than on mainframes. I believe we can. Business services should be viewed as a valid form of production. If we broaden the definition of manufacturing to include the production of both goods and services, then, the trend in Rhode Island manufacturing employment is very different from what is commonly believed. For well over a decade, the number of jobs in manufacturing has been falling while business service employment has been rising.