Manufacturing nostalgia

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The Swiss invented the term “nostalgia,” originally meaning a desire to go back your past home. It was considered a mental illness (in the US civil war, soldiers suffering from nostalgia were hospitalized). Today “restorative nostalgia”—a desire recreate a supposedly positive past—is a force in politics.
Politicians’ focus on manufacturing jobs is one example of restorative nostalgia. However, as economies become more developed, the share of jobs in the manufacturing sector should decline. The share of jobs in agriculture also declines as economies develop. In late nineteenth century Britain, restorative nostalgia was all about returning to a rural idyll that never really existed.
Manufacturing employment share declines as an economy develops because labor-intensive tasks are sent to less developed economies, or domestic technology replaces labor in making things. Jobs shift to less repetitive, more creative roles.
The trend to localize production nearer to consumers will tend to use domestic technology to replace overseas workers. The manufacturing employment share should continue to fall. Localization can improve overall economic efficiency by reducing the costs that occur after the factory gate (which tend to be a larger part of the consumer price). If, however, localization results in a higher manufacturing employment share, that suggests a reversal of economic development.