CHICAGO—Over the past few decades, cities across the US havewatched factories vanish as manufacturing shrank due to overseascompetition. But recently, there has been a lot of talk thatAmerican manufacturing is back, leaving many in the commercial realestate world wondering what sort of impact, if any, this possiblerevival will have in their market. And this Tuesday, consultingexperts from JLL will hold a webinar at 12 PM EST and attempt to provide a fewanswers.

“Everybody felt for quite awhile that manufacturing was lost inthe US,” Richard H. Thompson, a Chicago-basedmanaging director and global leader for supply chain and logisticsat JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. Thompson will participate in the webinaralong with Matt Jackson and ShannonCurley. Most observers point to the massive loss in thenumber of US workers engaged in manufacturing and the rise of Chinaas an economic rival as evidence of American decline.

“They are right, but in a number of important ways they are alsowrong,” Thompson says. Manufacturing employment has certainlydeclined during the last 40 years. In 1970, roughly 25% of USworkers were engaged in manufacturing, and today that number isonly about 8%.