Then why is everything being made in China? Are you and the author suggesting that the manufacturing jobs in China are being done by machines?
Are you really going to believe your lying eyes instead of the wisdom of the IBD writers?
Next you’re going to tell us that the industrial heartland of the Midwest is no longer filled with small manufacturing.
Increasingly, yes. In fact, that's the biggest worry for Beijing - how to deal with 800 million blue-collar workers as their economy continues to modernize and automate. Automation is exploding in China because of lower costs and higher quality.
The difference is, in the US you can go back to learn a new trade or skill. In China, once you're over the age of about 26, no university or college will accept you as a student. It's too late - you're options for switching careers is greatly reduced.
Few realize that average wages in China have tripled - yes, tripled - in the last 10 years. In 2005, the average worker made about 20,000 RMB per year - about $300 per month. Now it's at 60,000 RMB per year and still accelerating. The labor cost advantage that China had 10 years ago is gone - Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil - all have lower costs and millions of workers ready to go.
So China's turning to automation. Get the labor costs down, increase quality over what a low-automation production process creates (which is what you'd have in those other countries), and try to keep some of its factories rolling and the cash coming in.
But then, 800 million workers. What do you do...
No, but the Chinese are trying hard to make it so.
According to the above link, Chinese wage growth has averaged 12% per year since 2001. Therefore, the People's Republic needs to do it with fewer people. Otherwise, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, etc., will eat their lunch.