Changes in technology, globalization, and demographics are causing a tectonic shift in the way America works. Over the past 60 years, the US economy, once based largely on heavy industry, has become more and more dependent on services and the transfer of information. Technological improvements have increased productivity in the manufacturing sector, enabling manufacturers to produce more goods with fewer workers; at the same time, global competition has made it cheaper for companies to buy goods from abroad than to produce them domestically. Both forces have led to a net loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector.