China topped the United States as the world's largest manufacturer for the first time last year, according to a study on March 14 by economic research firm IHS Global Insight.
China accounted for 19.8% of global manufacturing in 2010, compared with 19.4% for the U.S. -- $1.995 trillion worth, compared with $1.952 trillion, according to IHS.
But by measures of productivity, China remained far behind the United States, with U.S. manufacturing workers generating more than eight times the value per person than China's.
"In other words, the U.S. manufacturing sector is producing roughly the same amount of output in 2010 with 11.5 million workers as opposed to its Chinese counterpart with around 100 million workers," IHS said.
Japan remained a distant third last year, generating $1.027 trillion by manufacturing, followed by Germany, with $618 billion.
But the most telling indicators were the pace of growth: over 2008-2010, China's manufacturing sector grew at a pace of 20.2% per year, while the United States grew at 1.8% and Japan at 4.25%.
Germany and fifth-ranked South Korea both contracted, and sixth-ranked India grew at 7.3% annually.
IHS pointed out that at one-third of the total economy, China's manufacturing sector is far larger as a portion of output than any other country. In the United States, by comparison, the share is just 13% of all production; in the other top-ranked countries, it is 15%-20%.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
See Also
China's Manufacturing at Seven-Month Low
Manufacturing Revenue to Grow 19% for China in 2011, Says Industry Group
