The controversy is ridiculous. Where the heck do you draw the line when we are dealing with definitions that were formed in the 1950s?

Your typical American has only a few major concerns about a job:

- Can I do the job?

- Does it pay enough?

- What are the benefits?

If these are satisfied, it's pretty much a good job. A good paying job in a service industry (which covers a lot of territory besides "fast food") is better than a crappy-paying one in the manufacturing industry. It has the additional benefit of being difficult to export. Nobody in India is going to be flipping my hamburgers for me or working the main desk at the local hotel.

I have no idea why "manufacturing jobs" would be considered superior in the twenty-first century. Does a software writer "manufacture" something?