GDP, Manufacturing employment

David Zetland….”For years, I have complained that “nobody wakes up in the morning, looks at GDP statistics, and changes their plans for the day.” Listen to this podcast on mis-measuring productivity and manufacturing statistics, which may have given populists excuses to “fix” problems that never existed. (My impression is that many more people would be happier if they looked at their quality of life instead of a [random? inaccurate?] reference point that supposedly tells them how well they are doing compared to peers.”

(Dan here….I found the podcast hard to follow.   Go here for a cogent argument, start arround 17 minutes in to hear Susan Houseman explain:   I’LL QUICKLY REVIEW SOME OF THE RESEARCH. SO THIS CHART SHOWS MANUFACTURING SHARE OF PRIVATE INDUSTRY EMPLOYMENT AND GDP. AGAINST SINCE LATE ’40s. AND WHAT YOU CAN SEE THAT’S BEEN RATHER DECLINING RATHER STEADILY. AND MANUFACTURING’S OUTPUT SHARE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR HAS BEEN TRENDING DOWNWARD PRETTY MUCH ALONG WITH EMPLOYMENT…)