Outsourcing to Third-World Countries will Decline as these Nations Prosper

Over the past 20 years, we have lost a lot of U.S. manufacturing jobs to other countries throughout the world, and it has been a major topic in a lot of political campaigns. States like Michigan and Ohio have felt a big hit as major manufacturing hubs. One thing to remember, however, is that not all things continue forever.  I don't know when the "outsourcing" of jobs will stop, but what I do know is that as these developing countries become wealthier and wealthier, the outsourcing will become less and less.

The reason we send jobs overseas is because labor is so much cheaper. However, as they get more and more business, these countries will become more and more like ours, and the gap between rich and poor is becoming smaller and smaller.  Keep in mind, however, that this gap is still VERY large in developing countries. Granted, this will take time (many, many decades), but it is happening more and more. 

It may take time, but as more and more countries become wealthier you will see more manufacturing projects staying locally. Also remember that major car manufacturers like Honda, Toyota, Kia, etc… are building factories in the United States to build more cars for the North American market. They see the value of the American worker and are committing a lot of money to our local economies and providing a lot of great paying jobs to more rural communities in this country. 

Unfortunately, we can't have our cake and eat it too. We can't expect to pay everyone in this country a high wage AND keep low wage manufacturing jobs here AND get very low cost products in our stores to purchase. There is a saying in business: "Quality, time and price. Pick two of them because you can't have all three." This is very similar. We would all like to have high wages and a lot of jobs that are creating low cost products, but it doesn't work that way. Something has to give. And remember, just because the car was invented didn't mean that everyone working on the stage coach or train lost their job forever. This country does a great job at being the most innovative country in the world. As businesses save more money, they are going to do what they do best: Figure out a way to make more money by developing new products and starting new businesses to sell those products that will provide more jobs, hopefully higher-end jobs.