The importance of the manufacturing sector in the U.S. economy has been the subject of hot debate for decades, Temple economist Bill Dunkelberg wrote in his Inquirer column "Small Matters." "On average, manufacturers have been increasing overall employment this year, compared with declines in the general small-firm population. The problem is that we can produce a lot of output using relatively few workers, so the manufacturing sector cannot be expected to solve our unemployment problem, no matter how well it performs," he wrote.