In a recent post, the Brookings Institution’s Mark Muro raises concerns about the U.S. manufacturing sector’s health due to the leading indicators of slowed growth in both auto sector output and auto manufacturing employment. Muro contends that these slowdowns are driven by plateaued consumer demand and automakers investing billions in developing technologies necessary for electric and self-driving cars.

Many regional economic development strategies emphasize employment in manufacturing or high-tech, as these industries tend to provide well-paying jobs. Through an analysis of American Community Survey five-year data for 2013-2017, SSTI assessed state-level employment concentration within these sectors.

A recent report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) details the changes in manufacturing’s geographic concentration across the country between 1940 and 2016. Manufacturing was the largest source of employment in 15 states in 1940, concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, and had grown to the largest source of employment in 18 states by 2000, concentrated in the Southeast and central states.