China Poised to Out-Manufacture the U.S.

It may seem that China already produces a much greater quantity of goods than the United States because of the abundance of “Made in China” labels in every retailer; however, the U.S. still out-manufactures China, producing 20 percent of goods globally to China’s 12 percent. Analysts predict, though, that the U.S. may not be the world’s largest manufacturer for much longer.
 
IHS/Global Insight, an economic-forecasting firm based in Lexington, Massachusetts, predicts that China will surpass the U.S. in real value-added manufacturing in 2015. This would mean that China will have managed to nearly quadruple the value of its manufactured goods in a fifteen-year span, compared to the U.S.’s slight net growth in the same period.
 
According to the chief analyst, the U.S.’s dramatic recession will allow China to surpass the U.S. even faster than IHS/Global Insight had previously predicted. While China continues to expand rapidly, the U.S. has been forced to shed jobs and produce far fewer goods than otherwise possible.
 
A contentious debate has risen surrounding China’s growing economic power, with American economists squabbling over whether or not America’s economic fall from first place is natural or not. The question also remains how the Obama administration will handle the statistics.

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