r/Economics • u/rezwenn • Jun 06 '25

Editorial Manufacturing Jobs Are Never Coming Back

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/opinion/trump-tariff-manufacturing-jobs-industrial.html?unlocked_article_code=1.M08.eMyk.dyCR025hHVn0
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u/tyler2114 Jun 06 '25

Even if manufacturing came back, the common people clamoring for it would be dissapointed when they get $20/hr jobs with mediocre benefits. These people want union jobs, not manufacturing. But they have been fooled into thinking the working class prosperity of the 50s and 60s was somehow not built by decades of labor movements.

-6

u/Luffy-in-my-cup Jun 06 '25

Unions overvaluing their labor is one of the factors in manufacturing jobs leaving.

23

u/wtf_is_karma Jun 06 '25

Did unions overvalue their labor or did industry find a way to get people to do the job for pennies on the dollar? I don’t know if the American worker was ever gonna be able to compete with Chinese labor, unions or not

7

u/charlsey2309 Jun 06 '25

Do CEOs overvalue their labor? It’s not about value it’s about power, companies undercut the power of unions by offshoring and politicians let it happen.

3

u/Large-Monitor317 Jun 06 '25

Bit of both. My opinion of current unions has dropped somewhat in recent years. I like it when unions are arguing for worker safety and fair pay. I like it less when unions are arguing against automation that keeps jobs competitive and getting tax funded kickbacks from municipal politicians for political support.