——Many good paying manufacturing jobs are gone.——
Unions are also largely gone.
Perhaps the reason the jobs and their unions are gone is because they paid too well and were no longer competative.
The unions raised wages beyond economic viability
A good indicator of that is in the public sector unions.
Government workers were given golden retirement funds.
Now municipalities are going broke trying to keep up.
Government workers retiring at 55, when public sector workers, who are paying for those retirements, are working 7-10 years longer.