I don't disagree with that.
But there are many, many things blocking the road to higher manufacturing employment and foreign competition is, IMHO, not the major one. High taxes, minimum wage laws and the unions all contribute to the downturn in manufacturing employment.
But the major "problem" is the huge increase in manufacturing productivity. Face it, your manufacturing job will, at some point, be taken over by a robot in some form. This is actually a good thing overall but it can be very disruptive for anyone who loses that job they've had for 30 years.
My expectation: U.S. Manufacturing Output will continue to grow at historical rates and Manufacturing Jobs will continue to fall at historical rates. Good news for Americans in general since lower labor costs result in lower selling prices. Bad news for people seeking manufacturing jobs. Get the government and the unions out the way and the American public will adapt. But I don't actually anticipate that happening.
> But the major “problem” is the huge increase in manufacturing productivity.
I do not agree with that at all.
The major problem is that manufacturing here is encumbered with the ever-expanding regulatory burden from the US government, and that manufacturing must compete head-to-head against foreign manufacturing that uses slave labor and pollutes with abandon, that’s advantaged by currency manipulation and often by a foreign government’s subsidies as well.
Against that backdrop, the increase in manufacturing productivity is a blip on the radar. It’s not the primary issue here, and as productivity is an essentially elemental force, not something that policy can be constructively used to address.
Red herring. The offshored manufacturing jobs are still with it is now they are j being done by foreigners. Automation affects all factories equally whether they are here or overseas. Nice try. No sale.