[Hendrix]

Many of the jobs that have been lost are due to unions (manufacturing jobs in OH and MI). Union wages and demands drive up the cost of hiring employees, so employers are forced (by the market) to lay people off, move away from the unions (other countries, outsourcing, etc.), etc. The market cannot be manipulated by unions--the market weeds out inefficient and overpaid workers by other competitors who do not have that problem and can offer their goods and services at a lower cost (i.e., the real market price that willing buyers will pay).

[durasell]

You have a "trick" phrase in there -- "overpaid." The baseline for compensation is not constant. It changes with the environment. If I'm doing a job for minimum wage and some guy in India or China can deliver the same service for a fraction of that amount, then I'm overpaid.

Conversely, I remember in the 1970s, many of my union card holding friends were getting salaries in manufacturing that paid $15 to $30 bucks an hour. And they weren't overpaid because nobody with the skills were offering to do the job cheaper.