The Midwest's Manufacturing Conundrum

America's manufacturing revival is being hailed by a growing chorus of voices. Manufacturing jobs increased at their fastest rate in almost a year, according to data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). The Boston Consulting Group is forecasting the creation of between two and three million new manufacturing jobs by 2020, which will contribute an estimated $20 to $55 billion in added economic output per year. (The Bureau of Labor Statistics is less bullish, projecting just 357,000 new manufacturing jobs will be created over the next decade).

A Brookings Institution report released earlier this week charted the geographic concentration and clustering of manufacturing across the United States, noting that "the Midwest had the fastest manufacturing job gains over the last two years."