In the short term, reshoring manufacturing will create jobs.

However, higher labor costs in the United States increases the economic pressure to automate as much as possible.

In the long term, there will not be nearly so many manufacturing jobs.

The technology for automating entire manufacturing lines is already here. These are not humanoid robots or anything that’s still in R&D.

Manufacturing automation robotics are impressively simple and utilitarian (though I do understand the complexity and work involved with engineering and building these machines) and have been around for decades.

One step further, automation seems to be the plan.

An automation and manufacturing engineering firm in the city where I live is already in the early stages of negotiating contracts for engineering automated manufacturing lines (reshoring manufacturing already creating engineering jobs!) many of these facilities are intended to be built in remote areas where the land and energy are cheap, and with short supply lines to raw materials, if possible.

Basically, a common plan seems to be to build automated facilities where it’s cheapest, because access to labor isn’t a big deal. A small town will have enough people.

Long story short, right now China is taking our manufacturing jerbs. In some years, automation will be taking our jerbs.