Statistically speaking: Across the board, automation has been responsible for the lion's share of job losses in the manufacturing sector. I respect you for giving me some subjective insight on the subject but I'm talking about the entire landscape.
It's a false narrative. 13% job loss due to NAFTA is significant but if 85% is lost due to automation , what should we focus on?
You know he's gas lighting and targeting scapegoats for an economic downturn that is MOSTLY due to automation. His platform: Bill Clinton, The Democrats, the Chinese and the Mexicans have stolen your pasty American dream!! I can return our race to the top of the pecking order before wealth gets distributed more evenly.
The truth is that nothing will stop the innovation and streamlining that you mentioned that will erase hundreds of thousands of jobs for every 1k he saves. They'll get around to identifying automation at some point in time. Let's take the steel industry for instance:
It lost 400,000 people, 75 percent of its work force, between 1962 and 2005. But its shipments did not decline, according to a study published in the American Economic Review last year.
The reason was a new technology called the minimill.
That's more damage than an entire mexican village can cause in one full swoop.
Its effect remained strong even after controlling for management practices; job losses in the Midwest; international trade; and unionization rates, found the authors of the study, Allan Collard-Wexler of Duke and Jan De Loecker of Princeton.
EFFICIENCY ALSO PLAYS A REAL BIG ROLE. THE AUTOMAKERS HAVE TRIMMED A LOT OF FAT OUT OF THEIR PRODUCT LINES. ALL OF FORDS CARS ARE MADE ON 5 CORE PLATFORMS. THEY COULD MAKE ALL OF THEIR CARS IN 7 PLANTS RUNNING AROUND THE CLOCK IF THEY REALLY HAD TO.
DON'T DOWNPLAY THE AUTOMAKERS SHIPPING JOBS OVERSEAS BECAUSE IT DID HAPPEN. FORD OPENED PLANTS ALL OVER THE WORLD TO SUPPORT THEIR GLOBAL FORD ONE PLAN. THE FUSION/MONDEO HAS MOVED INTO NEW MARKETS. THE MUSTANG JUST GOT INTRODUCED TO THE CHINA MARKET. SOME OF THESE CARS CANNOT NOT BE MADE HERE AND SHIPPED. IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO MEET SOME COMPANIES IMPORT LAWS. CHINA HAS A VERY LOW MILEAGE REQUIREMENT FOR SELLING NEW CARS. SHIPPING A CAR OVERSEAS WITH LESS THAN 100 MILES IS A CHALLENGE IN ITSELF. THE CAR HITS THE CHINESE DOCK WITH 100ISH MILES. CHINA ONLY ALLOWS FOR 200 MILES BEFORE THE CAR HAS TO BE SOLD AS USED. ON TOP OF THAT, CHINA TAXES IMPORTS ON USED CARS HIGHER THAN NEW CARS. CHINA'S INFRASTRUCTURE IS A CHALLENGE SO THEY WERE LOOKING AT A CHINA PLANT BUT I GUESS THEY FIGURED IT OUT. IT'S A GAME COUNTRIES PAY IN ORDER TO GET YOU TO INVEST IN THEIR ECONOMY IF YOU WANT TO SELL THERE. ALL THE AUTOMAKERS FACE THESE SAME CHALLENGES.
FORD JUST CLOSED UP AUSTRALIA MANUFACTURING ALSO DUE TO LABOR WAGE INCREASES(COAL MINING). THE FALCON AND FORD'S YUTE(CAN'T REMEMBER THE NAME OF THE CAR) HAVE BEEN DISCONTINUED AS A RESULT.
ROBOTS CAME IN BEFORE NAFTA BUT THEY REALLY WERE IN AN ASSISTANT CAPACITY OR DOING JOBS THAT WERE DEEMED DANGEROUS. TOO MANY DEATHS/ACCIDENTS WERE FORCING THEIR HANDS HERE. EVEN TODAY THERE AREN'T THAT MANY ROBOTS THAT TOOK ASSEMBLY JOBS. THE LURE FOR ROBOTS IS THEY DON'T NEED BREAKS OR DOWNTIME BUT THE REALITY IS, THEY DO. THEY NEED MAINTENANCE AND THEY DO BREAK. ON TOP OF THAT, THEY WILL ALWAYS BE REDUCED TO THE WORKLOAD OF HUMANS. THEY CAN WORK 24HRS STRAIGHT BUT IF THE HUMANS ARE ONLY WORKING 1 SHIFT THEN THE ROBOTS ARE STILL WORKING 8-10 HRS. ROBOTS WILL NEVER OVER UNLESS THEY CAN RUN THE WHOLE PLANT.
EVERYBODY HAS THEIR EYE ON THE GIGAFACTORY TESLA IS BUILDING. IF IT PROVES TO BE A SUCCESS THERE COULD BE A PROBLEM FOR LABOR JOBS IN ALL MARKETS. I THINK THAT IS WHY TESLA HAS SUCH A HARD WAY WITH PROGRESS SOMETIMES.
More at eleven 
. What they fail to tell people is that nine times out of ten times those jobs are going to folks that in the area hire pool that have been laid off from other plants, or people that are already in the hiring pool. Plus, those jobs don't pay like they used to.
