I would like to put the situation into perspective. For many years I have felt that Aus was adjusting to the new situation but the US and maybe other countries were not. So it is interesting to look at how much manufacturing plays a part in the economies. This is from an Aus Government web site.
From 1980 to 1997 manufacturing's contribution to Australia's GDP fell from 17% to 13%. This contrasted markedly with manufacturing's virtually unchanged share (19%) of the United States GDP, and the slight increase in Japan - from 25% to 27% - over the same period. In fact, the contribution of manufacturing to the GDP of all industrialised countries fell by only 2%, from 24% in 1980 to 22% in 1997.
Consistent with world trends, Australian manufacturing became increasingly export oriented throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1984-85 some 16% of the sales of manufacturing firms were to overseas markets. By 1997-98 this figure had risen to 26%. Import penetration of Australian markets increased more slowly over the same period, from 26% in 1984-85 to 36% by 1997-98. Australia's products featured competitively only in certain industries. In 1997 Australia ranked fifth for share of world value of non-ferrous metals, yet contributed only 4% of world supply. This share had remained relatively constant since 1985. In the supply of metal products Australia fell in world ranking from 10th to 12th in the same period, though its share of world supply remained unchanged. In food products, Australia's world ranking has remained at 12th, its share also remaining constant at 1.6%. In wearing apparel Australia's competitiveness has declined; in 1985 Australia ranked 14th, contributing 1.3% of production. However since 1995 Australia has not featured in the top 15 producers of wearing apparel.
