The valueoflistedshares in Americanfirms collapsed by 57% fromits peak in October 2007 to a troughin Marchthis year, though it has since rebounded somewhat.
U.S. manufacturers now produce three and a half times more output per worker hour than they did in the peak employment year of 1979, in part because offshoring has sent many low-value jobs overseas, but also because automation has replaced lots of factory jobs.