> The disappearance of factory jobs has less to do with "overseas flight" and far more to do with automation.
Do you have any data on this? Personally I would lean more towards poor trade policies and imbalances but would be curious to see some numbers on automation.
Best to look up the GDP figures for the manufacturing sector. Essentially, the US is #2 in manufacturing by a huge margin, while employing a fraction of the workers of China, #1.
Correct. China makes a lot of stuff, to be sure, but most of it's pretty low value, like toys and raw materials. The iPhones are actually the exception, statistically. The US still makes just as much stuff as it ever did, just with far, far fewer people.
China makes the aluminium case for the iPhone and the glass. The key chips and sensors come from Korea. The cameras, radios, and RAM from Japan. Some bits from Taipei. The software is written in California.
On hand data, no. My "data" comes from having seen this topic beaten to death and from spending a lot of time on manufacturing forums populated by actual manufacturing business owners and from knowing people who have owned manufacturing businesses.
Relevant quote "I don't want to leave you with a facile explanation, but for the purposes of space, I think it's acceptable to say that as manufacturing and agriculture got more efficient, they required fewer American workers, "
Do you have any data on this? Personally I would lean more towards poor trade policies and imbalances but would be curious to see some numbers on automation.