Imports from China were also far from being the most important factor in the decline in manufacturing employment at this time. The production of manufactured goods was going through a revolution in which new technology and capital equipment, employing just a few skilled workers (such as engineers), were able to produce more and more goods with less and less labor. For example, in the 1980s it took 10 labor hours to produce a ton of steel; by 2015 that figure was down to 2 labor hours. One study attributed 87 percent of job loss in manufacturing between 2000 and 2010 to improved productivity
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