> And minimizing labor cost as much as possible is a particular objective of business.
It is, which is why we have seen big business lobby hard for labor dumping - H1Bs and illegals and moving more women out of the home and into the workplace.
But the question is a political one, not a business decision. And the political situation is that the US as a nation can throw its weight around like no other nation could ever hope to do. Should business choose to flee to the lowest wage labor as its primary directive, we can impose equalizing (or even punitive) tariffs.
Because bottom line, these businesses need access to the US market and that is much more important than minimizing labor cost uber alles.
It really isn’t a good and sustainable business practice to relentlessly drive down wages. The lower quality and morale of the workforce will eliminate any savings from penny-pinching pretty quickly.
Oh, I don't know. It's been working pretty well for business for the last 30 years or so. Stock valuations are way up and wages for all but the top earners are have barely budged, adjusted for inflation. And with the rise of the global economy, the US market is becoming less important. I recently heard that the Chinese middle class is larger than the entire US population.