Manufacturing's Shift: A Future Without Factory Workers

The transformation in manufacturing is largely influenced not by trade but by rapid productivity growth facilitated by new technologies. This growth allows for the production of sufficient goods with significantly fewer workers, leading to the concentration and disappearance of many firms. Over the next few decades, this trend is expected to accelerate, potentially resulting in a factory setting devoid of human workers. Such a shift signifies not only a major economic transition driven by technological advancements but also a profound social change that diminishes the status and influence of organized labor and trades unions, even in regions where these unions are typically strong.

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