Trump and Bernie Sanders blame China for undercutting American workers with cheap labor (even Trump makes a lot of his suits and ties overseas). But there's another big factor: technology. Robots and machines are also replacing workers. The tech trend would have happened regardless of trade.

Still, manufacturing remains a key part of the U.S. economy. Over 12.3 million Americans are employed in the industry. But it's not the powerhouse it was.



In 1960, about one in four American workers had a job in manufacturing. Today fewer than one in 10 are employed in the sector, according to government data.

Call it the Great Shift. Workers transitioned from the fields to the factories. Now they are moving from factories to service counters and health care centers. The fastest growing jobs in America now are nurses, personal care aides, cooks, waiters, retail salespersons and operations managers.

"This promise that we can reverse everything with the snap of a finger is a false siren," says economist Charles Ballard of Michigan State University.

One expert, Robert Scott at the Economic Policy Institute, estimates that the U.S. lost roughly 800,000 jobs to Mexico between 1997 and 2013. He cites NAFTA -- the North American Free Trade Agreement signed in 1993 -- as the key driver for job losses.

Before NAFTA, Mexico's government had restrictions on foreign companies and who they could hire. NAFTA nullified those rules and America's trade deficit with Mexico has ballooned -- meaning we're bringing in a lot more goods from Mexico than we're sending there. That's good for American consumers but bad for manufacturing workers.

"The agreement is a failure," says Scott. "We sign trade deals that encourage manufacturing firms to outsource jobs to other countries."

Cheaper labor, lower environmental standards and low export taxes -- or tariffs -- make Mexico an attractive place to move operations, not to mention that it's next door to America. Add on NAFTA -- the success of which is debatable -- and you can see why so many U.S. companies crossed the border. Almost every large U.S. manufacturer, from Ford (F) and General Motors (GM) to Procter & Gamble (PG) and Caterpillar (CAT) has production facilities in Mexico.

"The anger is boiling over. Enough of the American people have got it through their heads that the American Dream is dead for us," says Jo-Ann, who lives in Pennsylvania. She requested that her last name be withheld for this article so it wouldn't impact her ongoing search for a better job.

The economy is the No. 1 issue on voters' minds even though America is growing, unemployment is incredibly low (4.9%) and gas is cheap.

"I thank God I don't have a kid. I don't know what I would tell them," she says. Her advice to young people is to skip college and learn a trade like plumbing that probably won't be shipped overseas. She supports Sanders. She agrees with him (and Trump) that trade deals like NAFTA are part of the problem.

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Ricardo Bustamente has worked for years as a technician at Verizon. He's often told "do more with less." He's learned that means more work for him as others get laid off, but no extra pay.

"My biggest fear is that this country is going to become a nation of have and have nots. People at my level are slowing dying out," says Bustamente, who is about to turn 43 and has three kids.

He hasn't gotten a raise in almost 8 years, but his expenses keep going up. He drives a 10-year old car and his wife diligently clips coupons and buys items on sale.

"I'm literally making less money every year," he says. If he loses his job, his family might lose their house.

Bustamente likes a lot of what Sanders is saying, especially on making college and health care more affordable, but he doesn't think Congress would ever enact Sanders' policies. Still, he is glad Sanders entered the race and has influenced Hillary Clinton.

"Slowly but surely I see myself and others around me eroding. We're definitely not moving up. We're moving backward," he says.