America's much-beleaguered manufacturing industry, which has been all but left for dead in some economic circles, roared back strongly in 2011, according to figures just released by the U.S. Census Bureau. After-tax profits for U.S. manufacturing corporations were $598 billion last year, which is not just a record but smashed all the old records. It was a jump of more than 25 percent over the previous high, set the year before in 2010.
During the recession, in 2008 and 2009, manufacturing was really in the doldrums, with profits of less than $300 billion in each year. So the 2011 figure is more than double where we were just a couple of years ago. It's also well above the pre-recession high, $470 billion, set in 2006.
All told, the manufacturing output in this country grew by 4.7 percent in 2011, more than three times the overall rate of GDP growth, which was 1.7 percent. And manufacturing has continued on that track into the new year: for the past 12 months ended in February, that growth rate is now up to 5.2 percent.
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