“The integration of computing and telecommunications has created a global network that allows businesses to manage supply chains across multiple continents in real time. Designers in California can transmit blueprints instantly to factories in East Asia, while customer service operations are routed to South Asia. This connectivity has accelerated the movement of manufacturing jobs overseas and restructured the domestic labor market around service and information industries.”
—Adapted from a federal report on technology and trade, 2001
The developments described in the excerpt most directly contributed to which of the following economic changes in the United States during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries?
- AThe passage of high tariffs that isolated the United States from international trade networks
- BA significant increase in the membership and bargaining power of industrial labor unions
- A decline in domestic manufacturing employment and the expansion of the service sectorAnswer
- DA massive migration of service-sector workers to rural agricultural regions
Answer
A decline in domestic manufacturing employment and the expansion of the service sector
The correct option is correct because the digital revolution enabled the rapid transmission of information and management of global supply chains. This globalization allowed corporations to offshore manufacturing jobs to countries with lower labor costs, resulting in a decrease in industrial jobs in the United States while shifting the domestic workforce toward service and information-based industries.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
The shift of the United States economy from manufacturing to service- and information-based industries due to globalization and the digital revolution.