I want to make a point that may shine some light. In the past, jobs were more skill-intensive, apprenticeship-like...
Today, everyone is a damn specialist. I'm talking about skilled labor, which has turned into specializations.
I think outsourcing has an effect on that, at least I think it does.
Why am I a "dumbass" for wanting a skilled domestic work force?
If you actually study the evolution of manufacturing in the US over the past forty years, you would know that the loss of skilled and semiskilled jobs in this country is not due to "outsourcing".
Example: In 1965, an automobile assembly plant with three lines operating three shifts would employ approximately 9,000 people......unskilled, semiskilled, and skilled. Today that same plant will employ approximately 2,000 workers, and most of the semiskilled and skilled jobs are gone. jobs like:
Tool and die makers
Machinists
Welders
Painters
Inspectors
Pipefitters
Production schedulers
These jobs have not been "outsourced", as many of these plants are still operating in the US......what has happened is these workers were replaced by........
AUTOMATIONMachinists, tool and die makers, and pipefitters were replaced by CRC machines
Painters, welders, and inspectors were replaced by robotics
Production schedulers, clerks, bookeepers, and accounting personnel were replaced by office automation systems.
With this transition, an entire new group of technological jobs were created, to design, build, maintain and program the robotics and automation systems, and these jobs require a different, and somewhat higher set of skills........during this ongoing transition, some workers will adapt, learn a new skill set, and continue to participate......some will not, and be left behind, obsolete.
It has been happening since the industrial revolution, and will continue.
doc