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Maybe the 1950s Are Returning
Did we say the economy may be headed back to the 1970s? Well, in some ways it's headed back to the 1950s.
That was a period when U.S. manufacturing was still in solid shape, accounting for about one third of U.S. workers. That figure had fallen to about one in 10 workers early in this decade.
Now manufacturing appears to be one of the few sectors driving the economy forward. The jobless rate is high at 9.7 percent, which means that consumer spending won't drive a recovery. But the manufacture of goods and services, as measured by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, is at its highest level in five years. The reading for February rose to 17.6 from 15.2 the month before.
Now the question is whether manufacturers will have enough confidence to start hiring more workers. Once that happens, a self-sustaining recovery might actually be possible.
Steve Rosenbush is the blogs/industry editor for Portfolio.com.
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