"[I]f you really look at the data from recent years … we are still for example, the leading country in the world in terms of manufacturing: We manufacture more than any other country in the world, even China," Dr. Walden says.

"Furthermore, in the last five years, among the major nations we are a leading country in manufacturing growth and manufacturing productivity. For example, among the 15 leading nations in the world, the U.S. ranked sixth in growth in manufacturing from 2000 to 2005 and also third in improvement in manufacturing productivity," he adds.

"Now the last factor works into the job loss because as workers become more productive in manufacturing you simply don’t need as many of them there," he concludes, "because they are working with high tech equipment and technology."