Manufacturing is recovering, jobs included

In early 2025, almost no one predicted a recovery in American manufacturing. But manufacturing output has been recovering for a year and a half, and this year hiring finally joined it: factory employment stopped falling in December and has added 58,000 jobs in 2026. The recovery is narrow. Almost all of it, in output and in hiring, comes from advanced manufacturing: chemicals including pharma, machinery, computers and electronics, and transportation equipment. The rest of the sector is still flat or shrinking. The job gains are modest and probably always will be, because these are the most capital-intensive factories in the...