The three greatest external shocks to US manufacturing employment in the last 100 years were the Great Depression of the 1930s, America’s entry into World War II in 1941, and China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001.
Between 2000 and 2011, the US lost nearly 6 million manufacturing jobs.
To put these data into better context, check out this brief: “Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You.”
