US manufacturing faced a tragedy between 2000 and 2010. In the United States, the number of manufacturing workers, which had been pretty consistent at 17 million since 1965, decreased by one-third in 2010. The disruption was undoubtedly accelerated by the Great Recession. Capital investment, output, and growth were all affected.
Contrary to what many claimed, productivity increases were not the cause of the decline in manufacturing jobs due to robotics or automation. Instead, most of this decline can be traced back to the US trade deficit.