Rust belt

The economic decline of heavy industry during the 1970s led many critics to refer to the manufacturing centers in the Northeast and Middle West as the rust belt, usually

A pedestrian walks by graffiti on a downtown street on November 20, 2008, in Detroit, Michigan. An estimated one in three Detroiters lives in poverty, making the city the poorest large city in America. (Platt/Getty Images)

Including the states of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.

During the recessions of the 1970s, key manufacturing industries such as steel, automotive, mining, and shipbuilding struggled to maintain their competitive base and failed to sustain their capital investment programs. Moreover, increased competition from abroad, especially in the automotive and steel industries, and the development of high technology and service industries, resulted in massive factory closures, large-scale redundancies, and severe economic repercussions for the region. As a result, cities such as Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh were especially hard hit, with high unemployment and rapid population emigrations. The high cost of public subsidies in keeping open major factories and the loss of tax revenues forced many cities to the brink of bankruptcy, such as Cleveland in 1978. Increased technological innovation also compounded the difficulties of sustaining the competitiveness of heavy industry, as the major companies drastically reduced their workforces. With the development of high technology and increased communication networks, many manufacturers relocated out of the rust belt to the less expensive South, or abroad, and newer industries began to develop in California.

However, during the 1990s, a sustained effort was made to reverse this decline. Many cities initiated inner-city renewal programs, focusing on attracting high technology, financial, and research companies to the regions. Cities such as Pittsburgh and Detroit, in particular, have focused on marketing themselves as centers of research and development, in order to complement their traditional industries. These manufacturing areas have recently suffered another setback though, with the recession of 2008 and the collapse of the U. S. automotive industry.

See also automobile industry; Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act.