There are a number of ways to measure the state of US manufacturing. One of the most popular is the monthly US manufacturing output index from the Federal Reserve Bank.

The index currently uses a baseline year of the average month in 2012, with an index value of 100.

As can be seen in the chart below, before March, the index hovered around 104-105. What that means is the US manufacturing was staying between 4-5% above that baseline 2012 level  - meaning growth of well less than 1% annually now 8 years later.

The index then dropped to 99 in March before collapsing to 83 and 87 in April and then May, rebounding a bit to 93 in June, though that is still 7% lower than 2012.

More tellingly, the peak year for US manufacturing was actually 2007 - a level it does not appear the US will get back to any time soon.

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