Can Natural Gas Bring Back U.S. Factory Jobs?

President Obama touted the energy boom in his State of the Union as fuel for economic revival, but can abundant natural gas really turn back the clock on more than three decades of economic change?

Some 7.5 million U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost since the 1970s for reasons that are complex, but include cheap labor, lax environmental regulation, and subsidy and tax policies overseas. The cost of energy is certainly one factor in siting new factories, but is it a big enough bait to lure back the blue-collar jobs lost during the rise of globalization?

The numbers show that manufacturing in the United States is indeed making a comeback. But there remains plenty of disagreement about why, how far it will go, and how big of a role the new supply of natural gas is playing. 

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