Productivity and Trade

Yes, it's true, the number of manufacturing jobs has been declining in recent years, but we shouldn't blame free trade. The real reason why these jobs are declining is that, due to increases in productivity, we simply don't need the number of people we used to have producing manufactured goods. That means that labor is freed up and (hopefully) able to find more productive work. In the words of Brink Lindsey:

"...the primary cause of these trends is the superior productivity of American manufacturers."

Link via Exploit the Worker