Manufacturing jobs are returning to some places. But these jobs are different.

The nation shed manufacturing jobs at a steady pace over most of the last quarter century. A combination of trade deals, automation and economic recessions sent the number of manufacturing jobs plummeting, with 6 million jobs being lost by 2011.

But since then, about half a million jobs have been regained.

They’re not the same jobs that left. They're not coming back everywhere, or even in the same places where jobs were lost. The map of where products are made in this country is being redrawn.

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The nation's biggest cities show the biggest manufacturing job losses.

Across the Northeast and in urban centers like Los Angeles and Dallas, only one county in seven has seen factory jobs increase since 2011. Manufacturing does tend to account for a relatively small share of big city jobs, typically about 10 percent or less.

Across the rest of the more than 2,600 counties with factory jobs, manufacturing employment grew in more than one-third. There are more than 330 counties where factory jobs are up more than 20 percent since 2008.

Not all manufacturing jobs are created equal

Some jobs are unlikely to come back, no matter what.

Jobs in the knitting and cut-and-sew operations of clothing manufacturers, for example, amount to only one-seventh of 1990's workforce. For the textile mills that make fiber and fabrics, it's one-fourth.

Mark Muro, the director of policy at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, said the prospects of a comeback for simple products and those with little new or innovative content are not strong.

"The more lower-end, labor-intensive and commodified, the less chance it's going well," he said.

But while shirts, pants and other products can be made abroad, some goods remain more economical to produce locally.

Food manufacturing, which includes bakeries and confectioneries, is an exception among manufacturers: Mexico won’t be making America's doughnuts anytime soon.

Muro said the best prospects for new manufacturing jobs are in sectors where products are complicated, often large and include new content that requires continuing research and development.

"U.S. policy should be focusing on the high-value manufacturing that actually has a chance to survive and grow and pay people a good wage," Muro said.

The poster child for this so-called advanced manufacturing is transportation, especially the building of cars, trucks and aircraft.

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Although still below 1990 employment, transportation manufacturing jobs have rebounded since 2011, and in four years, the industry regained about a third of the jobs lost over the previous two decades.

The story of South Carolina's transition from old to advanced manufacturing is told through its quiet redbrick textile mills — and its bustling auto and aerospace factories.

Four in 10 S.C. manufacturing workers could be found in textile and apparel plants back in 1990. But as that workforce withered under the effects of NAFTA, WTO, automation and other factors, the state gained a BMW auto plant in Spartanburg in 1994.

Then in 2007, Boeing arrived with a 787 Dreamliner factory near Charleston. Nearby, Volvo is building a plant that, when completed, will make 100,000 cars a year.

"We are definitely seeing manufacturing jobs come back to the U.S.," said Joey Von Nessen, a University of South Carolina economist.

But there is a key difference.

"The type of jobs is very different than those lost in the great recession," he added.

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Now, twice as many people work in transportation as in textiles and apparel, making it South Carolina's largest manufacturing sector.

There are similar stories across the country: Newport News, Va., with both auto parts plants and shipyards building two nuclear submarines, added 2,500 manufacturing jobs. Wayne County, Mich., home to suburban Detroit auto plants, added 5,100 jobs.

The new manufacturing jobs are moving to areas outside of big cities that already have, or had, factories.

Those tend to have the basic infrastructure — like transportation, power and other resources — needed by factories already in place.

They also often have factory-friendly public officials, as well as experienced manufacturing workers, who are valued even if their specific skills need updating.  

What this all means moving forward

Any significant manufacturing comeback would change a long and significant decline in the jobs that build things — and made America into a 20th century world power. Manufacturing powered the United States’ growth as it evolved from a farm-based economy into an industrial giant.

Factory jobs have headed mostly down since 1980. Every recession since has ratcheted down, as manufacturing employment failed to rebound to pre-recession levels and some jobs in vulnerable sectors didn't return.

With new, advanced manufacturing jobs arising in pocket areas nationwide, a new kind of manufacturing worker, one with a college degree as well as advanced technical skills, is needed.

Communities that have landed these jobs often credit local job training programs, in partnership with community colleges and other schools, with helping build worker skills.

Peter Morici, a University of Maryland business professor, economist and conservative commentator, said more than 2 million jobs could return to the country if there are changes in trade policy, regulatory burdens and taxes.

However, those who want the jobs will have to compete for them.

“Workers don’t have a right to these jobs,” he said. “They have to train themselves. They have to earn these jobs by being productive.”