Germany and Switzerland have managed to maintain high wages and high standards of living in a globally competitive manufacturing sector.
The idea that all this change is inevitable or impossible to avoid and we can't pay workers properly is just bullshit, it's the messaging of a multi-decade well financed public relations effort by people in the U.S. with a vested interest in making the public believe it.
The Mittelstand doesn't do the sort of manufacturing that the rust belt did 40 years ago. These smaller firms existing today only because of big disparities in quality between their products and cheaper competitors. They benefit enormously from the German government's investment in applied research.
https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/manufacturi...
I watch VP's get million dollar bonuses while laying off workers. I watch execs outsource whole departments, watch quality tank, and they get millions.
The center can not hold. It will come crashing down.