Manufacturing has played a leading role in the nation’s economic recovery, adding 504,000 jobs between February 2010, when manufacturing employment fell to its lowest point, and October 2012. These 504,000 jobs constituted 11.1 percent of the 4.5 million jobs created in that period. However, this relatively recent manufacturing boom comes on the heels of more than a decade of sharp declines in manufacturing employment. Between March 1998 and October 2012, the United States lost 5.7 million manufacturing jobs, nearly a third (32 percent) of manufacturing employment; most of these job losses were due to the growing U.S. trade deficit. Taken together, these trends highlight the manufacturing sector’s importance to the U.S. economy and recovery, as well as the role of trade deficits in eliminating U.S. manufacturing jobs.

The American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA), AFL-CIO, is a union representing school leaders on the front lines of running America’s public schools and ensuring quality education for all. AFSA is dedicated to providing its members with opportunities for professional development, support and a voice in deciding our nation’s education policy.

Two years after the devastating earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people in Haiti, scenes of desperation remain.

A cholera outbreak has claimed thousands of lives. An estimated 100,000 people became amputees from injuries suffered in the quake. Mental illness, brought by lingering trauma from the destruction, remains a challenge, officials say.

Arlington, VA—The United States lost 28 percent of its high-technology manufacturing jobs over the last decade, as the nation’s rapidly shrinking lead in science and technology in the global marketplace was accompanied by a toll on U.S. high-tech jobs, according to a new study released today by the National Science Board (NSB), the policy making body for the National Science Foundation.