"For example, not a single one of our manufacturing workers lives in Wilton."

She also believes that the federal aid given to displaced manufacturing workers should be extended to cover information industries.

As the size of the company grew there was a desire from the manufacturing workers to form an organized labor union.

The figure was based on how much more the company said it cost to pay a hypothetical middle-level manufacturing worker.

Today, just 2 million manufacturing workers belong to unions, down from 3.5 million a decade ago.

That would bring the total of uncounted manufacturing workers to 425,000.

As a result, the traditional manufacturing workers in the region have experienced economic upheaval.

Since January 1989, companies have eliminated 1.2 million manufacturing workers.

What does history teach us about how well displaced manufacturing workers have been reintegrated into the work force?

The latest losses mean that 305,344 manufacturing workers have been made redundant by more than 3,000 firms since February 1991.