5 Reasons Manufacturing Still Matters

The International Monetary Fund recently released a report saying manufacturing isn’t as important to national economies as it once was. The service industry is what countries should focus on, the IMF report says.

That’s just not the case, says author Jostein Hauge, a research associate at the University of Cambridge. It’s hype without evidence, he says, and gives five reasons why manufacturing will matters:

1. Economic development has (almost never) happened without industrialization.
2. Manufacturing drives productivity growth and innovation.
3. Manufacturing helps services.
4. The manufacturing sector is larger than you think.
5. The fourth industrial revolution is not stealing manufacturing jobs.

Read more about Hauge’s thesis and explanation of those five points on TheConversation website HERE.