Professional Documents
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Sam Zivot
36685006
Geography 350
Prof. Jim Whitehead
July 22, 2004
The American industrial heartland, which spans throughout the five great lakes states of
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan, was once home to some of the nation’s
most dynamic and prosperous cities. The cities of Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis,
Milwaukee, and Cleveland, were the centers of American pride, producing the lion’s
share of the nation’s steel, machine tools, automobiles, rubber and consumer durables.
Manufacturing was king in the regional economy of the industrial heartland and its cities
continued to boom well into the twentieth century. However, as a number of forces of
change emerged, the once impressive economic prosperity of the region and its cities
would steadily begin to crumble. The stitches holding the economic vitality of the
national and international forces. Using the example of the decline of the heartland’s
cities, this essay will demonstrate how the economic success or failure of cities is often
beyond the control of the cities themselves. Entangled in a web of complex regional,
national and international linkages, the fate of cities is largely determined outside of their
physical boundaries.
The economic lifeblood of the Heartland’s cities has been heavily dependent on the
success of one industry; the automotive industry. While the region has produced a range
machinery, and rubber, demand for these goods is predominantly determined by the
automotive industry. The Automobile assembly plants of Detroit call upon the rubber
plants of Akron, the metal foundries of Chicago and Cleveland, the machine tool shops of
Cincinnati, the steel industry of Gary and the hydraulics plant of Columbus and Dayton,
who in turn depend on Detroit to drive industrial demand (Szelenyi 142). The economic
fortune of Akron, who at its peek produced 66% of the nation’s tires, was almost
on Detroit for over 50% of its steel purchases (Teaford 178). At its height in the 1950’s,
this automotive triangle accounted for 90% of the nation’s automobile production, but has
since been met with a number of challenges that have significantly reduced the
percentage of this share (Szelenyi 142). Rising energy prices, economic recession,
saturated automobile markets and the increase of foreign competition have shaken every
point of the automotive triangle. The increasing penetration of imported automobiles into
the US market, has dealt the American automobile companies (and their suppliers) a
severe blow, as their share of the domestic market would suffer a decline from 85% to
35% during the three decade from 1940-1970 (Szelenyi 143). Similarly, the energy crisis
of the 1970’s demanded that vehicles be smaller and leaner, which would substantially
cut back Detroit’s demand from its industrial suppliers, causing further economic
that the hopes and fortunes of an entire region are largely dependant on the success or
failure of one industry. While the superior diversity of Chicago’s economic base helped to
cushion it from the adverse performance of the automobile industry, most of the cities of
the heartland’s economy remained vulnerable to shifts in automotive demand and to the
prospect of industrial decentralization. The emergence of Los Angeles and San Francisco
as rival domestic centers for automobile manufacturing, would spell a dim future for the
With a progressive political climate and a long tradition of Industrial labor in its midst,
the heartland would develop into the nation’s stronghold of organized labor by the mid
twentieth century. The power of labor unions in the heartland states was evident, as
workers united to enact massive sit down strikes, which ceded the operations of many
and benefit packages, seemingly holding the welfare of corporations in their hands.
However, the mounting labor costs began to eat away at corporate profits and in the
decades following the World War Two the industrial heartland was loosing its
regarded as a poor business climate, with high corporate taxes, escalating energy costs,
and a record of violent labor-management relations. Increasing the worker wage by 10%
was found to decrease the number of firms choosing to locate in a specific state by a rate
of 9% (Plant 32). The high degree of unionization in the region would act as a significant
determinant in shifting future manufacturing growth to the American South (Plant 34).
The South offered industrial investors a more favorable business climate, with states
enacting legislation that deterred unionization, ensuring that labor costs would be kept
low. Additionally, the South offered industry a considerable savings in the cost of energy,
as well as lower corporate taxes. Unfortunately for the heartland its unfavorable business
climate resulted in high production costs for firms, serving to reduce future investment in
the region and encouraged factories of heartland to shift their operations elsewhere (Plant
105).
In the decades following World War two, the cities of the heartland would begin to
employment in the American labor force. What was rapidly emerging in the American
republic was what Daniel Bell has called the “rise of a technocratic, post industrial
employment in the United States was giving way to the rapidly emerging service sector
which would account for 94% of the jobs created between 1970-1984 (Perrucci & Torg
23). While the service sector witnessed remarkable growth, the manufacturing sector
faltered, displacing 4.6 million workers from 1983-1987 (Patch 3). The sharp decline of
employment in the American manufacturing sector was more than a cyclical economic
downturn for heavy industry. American manufacturing workers would not be recalled to
their jobs once economic conditions improved. Technological innovation, the deskilling
of labor, increasing foreign investment, macro economic change and the shifting of
production facilities abroad represented structural changes in the American labor force
that rendered the manufacturing worker largely obsolete in United States. America was
entering the post industrial age and by definition the industrial heartland was out of date.
Dallas, Atlanta, San Diego and other cities engineered for the post industrial age, would
Met with mounting corporate taxes, wage increases, escalating utility costs and the
presence of labor unions, American manufacturing firms were met with declining rates of
domestic plants and shifted their operations oversees. The dependence of the heartland on
manufacturing activities would mean that its cities were the hardest hit by the
its manufacturing employment, from 1947-1982, and lost 203,000 manufacturing jobs
due to plant closures and contractions from 1977-1981 alone (Squires, Bennett, McCourt
& Wyden 27). In the state of Indiana, 45% of Indiana’s employment loss from 1977-1980
came as a direct result of the closure of its manufacturing plants (Perrucci & Targ 35).
The job loss rate of the five states of the industrial heartland reached 20% from 1979-
1986, twice that of the national average, while the American West, equipped with a strong
post industrial economy based in high tech, aerospace and defense witnessed substantial
employment gains (Rodwin 33). The rise of the white collar class in America, severely
threatened the economic vitality of industrially dependent heartland; in the post factory
The job loss and the consequent loss of wages in the industrial heartland snowballed into
all sectors of the regions economy, bringing about urban decay throughout its cities. As
manufacturing shut down and the information sector took its place, the city of Chicago
saw its number of poor households double in the 1970’s (Cowie & Heathcott X).
Throughout the heartland, populations declined, housing depleted, crime rates soared,
poverty reigned and government social assistance programs were cut in the midst of
crisis. The return to the workforce had continued to be a difficult task for laid off
manufacturing workers, who do not possess the necessary skill sets to succeed in the
nation’s post industrial economy. The factory job had given way to design, marketing,
insurance, finance and other specialized services, unfamiliar to the former plant worker.
While former industrial workers did gradually return to the labor force, most have been
relegated to menial service positions that offer significant pay cuts and few benefits. The
former auto worker and the former steel worker earn only 43% and 47% of their former
wages respectively (Bluestone 2). Few laid off workers have entered the much publicized
high tech sector, with most taking occupations as cashiers, cooks, janitors, security
As America entered the post industrial age, she would witness the shift of its national
production stronghold from the cities of the heartland to the cities of the American South
and West. Running through the stretch of cities from California in the West, through to
Arizona, Texas, Georgia and Florida, the geographic region termed the “American
Sunbelt” was fast on the rise, challenging the heartland for the position of national
manufacturing predominance. Lower living costs, lower taxes, cheaper energy prices and
increased federal spending, attracted both populations and investment to the Sunbelt.
While the United States as a whole lost much of its consumer manufacturing industry
oversees, the defense industries production facilities remained largely concentrated
within American boarders. Unfortunately for the cities of the heartland, such production
facilities were located outside its geographical sphere, to its South and to its West.
Focused on meeting the pent up demand for consumer goods in the midst of the post war
period, the heartland’s manufacturing firms had neither the incentive nor the capacity to
modernize their production for the age of aerospace and high tech (Rodwin 46).
Comparatively, the cities of the Sunbelt tooled their industries for the high tech industries
of the future and would acquire a disproportionate amount of the nation’s lucrative
While the cities of the heartland had been proficient producers for the defense industry in
the past, the increasing sophistication of modern weapon systems demand the high tech
components of the Sunbelt, more so than they do the steel and machine tools of the
heartland. Accordingly, the heartland will continue to loose government contracts to the
aerospace, electronics and communications beneficiaries of the Sunbelt (Rodwin 57). The
decrease in federal spending in the heartland and the mass exodus of its key scientific and
management personnel to the Sunbelt have further hampered the ability of its cities to
compete (Rodwin 58). Alternatively, The Sunbelt’s diversified economic base, acquisition
of lucrative defense contracts, and strong presence of high tech firms, have allowed its
The United States emerged from the Second World War as the world’s predominant
economic power. Relatively unscathed from the damages wrought by the war and with
much of Europe and Asia in ruins, the American super power was encountered with little
international industrial competition and enjoyed large trade surpluses, which filtered
down into the economies of the industrial heartland. Comfortable with their preeminent
economic position in the national economy, many US manufacturing firms exercised little
foresight in gauging the growth of international competition and rapidly began to loose
ground to the emerging Europe and Japan (Bluestone 5). Foreign competitors had inched
ahead in the development of cost saving machinery and product innovation, placing a
strain on the American international market share of industrial products and automobiles.
The decline of the American market share in oil, iron, steel and automobile production,
significantly damaged its foreign trade position, as the nation experienced its first balance
of trade deficit of the twentieth century in 1971 (Rodwin 35). By 1980, Japan was
producing more vehicles than all of North America, securing an impressive 9.5 billion
dollar trade surplus with the continent (Bluestone 5). The declining American market
share, led to cutbacks in production in the heartland’s factories, resulting in layoffs and
outright plant closings. Rather than focus on the development of more cost effective
production techniques and product innovation, to keep pace with their international
competitors, American firms been pulling out of their domestic industrial investments and
The international economy is now characterized by what academics have termed the
“New International Division of Labor” (NIDL), wherein high tech research, marketing,
management, design and legal functions are concentrated in the industrialized nations and
manufacturing functions are outsourced to the developing world. The NIDL has been
eased the flight of capital across boarders and have allowed American firms to control the
generated oversees, with General Motors generating a record 90% of profits in foreign
markets in 1993 (Phillips 55). While cities possessing diversified service sectors
equipped with an abundance of trade and finance functions have benefited from the
NIDL, the cities of the heartland, that specialize heavily in the production of consumer
durables and non military capital goods, have suffered from both mounting foreign
competition, and the flight of production facilities oversees (Rodwin 38). While
American manufacturing firms recorded record profits in the mid 1990’s, an increasingly
small share of their success would be felt in the heartland, since a great share of these
profits were realized because of domestic plant closings. The withdrawal of capital
American the rust belt. The loss of workers wages and the decline in the corporate tax
bases of heartland’s cities has brought about urban decay, urban fiscal crisis and cut backs
in social services.
revival was the growing efficiency of the manufacturing sector. While investment in U.S
155% from 1989-2002, while primary metal products and automobiles also witnessed
strong increases in output during this period (Cowie & Heathcott XII). The technological
innovations of the information revolution had finally started to diffuse throughout the
capacity, factories have become so efficient that the labor force required to operate them
continues to shrink. While the manufacturing sector employed 31% of America’s labor
force in 1959 by 2001 it employed only 12.6% (Cowie & Heathcott XII). Despite
increases in the productive capacity of industry, the predominance of the service sector in
the labor force is assured. As the workforce of the industrial heartland’s cities, gradually
adopt the technical skills for success in the new service based economy, the urban plight
brought on by the rapid deindustrialization process will begin to fade. The cities of the
post industrial era that will experience the highest rates of economic growth will be those
finance, marketing, accounting and consulting services (Rodwin 48). Whether or not the
cities of the heartland will assume these functions critical for success in the twenty first
This paper has employed the example of the decline of the American industrial heartland,
to demonstrate that the fate of cities is often determined outside of their physical
boundaries. Cities do not exist as independent entities and are affected by regional,
national and international forces over which city officials have a narrow range of control.
At the regional level the cities of the heartland were adversely affected by their singular
dependence on the automotive industry and unfavorable business climate, on the national
level the cities were threatened by the rise of the American Sunbelt and the transition to a
post industrial service based economy, and on the international level the cities were
Labor. By no means does this represent an exhaustive list of the reasons for the
heartland’s decline, but these factors are selected to demonstrate how the city interacts
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