Only about 52 percent of the 17 million jobs in the U.S. manufacturing sector are involved in "the actual production of goods," Ansberry says. The rest are in engineering, design, sales, marketing, consulting, logistics and support. Ansberry calls these service jobs, and says that a decade ago, 68 percent of manufacturing jobs involved actual production. In this view, a job is only a manufacturing job if it is hands-on work on the production line.

I don’t entirely agree with Ansberry’s perception of manufacturing and service jobs. In my view, everyone employed by a manufacturing enterprise plays a direct role in the success of the enterprise. Therefore, whether they are machine operators on the shop floor or accountants in a cubicle, they have manufacturing jobs.