Sadly, even the offshoring centers are losing to automation. I’ve personally seen even modest tools automate away 10s of jobs in a factory in the 2010s in India. Cutting, Punching, bending and moving metal sheets just done by 1 machine.
Today We have lights out manufacturing.
One thing I would highlight, is that the issue with offshoring wasn’t the loss of jobs as much as it was underemployment.
Going from factory foreman to burger flipper is what hollowed out that class of workers.
The Root cause failure for the offshoring model for the offshoring nation is retraining difficulty.
If people could be magically retrained into new roles, then offshoring would always work.
Today We have lights out manufacturing.
One thing I would highlight, is that the issue with offshoring wasn’t the loss of jobs as much as it was underemployment.
Going from factory foreman to burger flipper is what hollowed out that class of workers.
The Root cause failure for the offshoring model for the offshoring nation is retraining difficulty.
If people could be magically retrained into new roles, then offshoring would always work.