While U.S. manufacturing has been hard hit by a decade of rapid import growth and job loss, the manufacturing sector still remains a vital part of the U.S. economy.

The manufacturing sector supported 14 million jobs in 2007, or about 10.1% of total employment. Manufac- turing employs a higher share of workers without a college degree than the rest of the economy. On average, these workers made 9% more than similar workers in the rest of the economy in 2006-07.