Between 1992 and 2000, manufacturing contributed 22% of the country's economic growth, far more than any other sector except finance, insurance and real estate, which also contributed 22%, according to calculations by the National Association of Manufacturers and Commerce Department data. During that same period, U.S. economic growth increased at an average annual rate of 3.6%, while manufacturing's share grew by 4.5%, contributing to the country's longest economic expansion.
Those are brutally sobering statistics considering the current slump in manufacturing.