Valuable American manufacturing jobs were sent offshore under the dysfunctional belief that low-wage labor would result in lower product costs and higher profits. Although it may seem counterintuitive, manufacturers do better with high-wage workers who will acquire skills, follow work standards, and take initiative to improve business performance.

Recognition of this will go a long way toward long-overdue reshoring of American manufacturing capability. William R. Basset pointed out more than 100 years ago that cheap labor is costly in the long run.

“We all know that cheap labor is not cheap... In any operation in which the material costs are high as compared with the labor costs, the highest possible pay is the cheapest if it results in savings of material, or in a fine product, or in both. In the grades of production where labor is the big factor, high wages are economical if the wastes of human power can be cut to a minimum.” ¹

To this Henry Ford added:

“Good workmanship has to be paid for, and good workmanship is cheap at almost any price. It is simply a waste of time and money to erect elaborate manufacturing equipment and then expect that it can be run by low-paid men.

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