Lack of skilled labor threatens manufacturing

Lack of skilled labor threatens manufacturing | TheHill:
"During the 2016 primary election, several presidential candidates repeatedly lamented the loss of American manufacturing jobs.
...Over the last 20 years, low-skilled manufacturing jobs have vanished from the U.S. while high skilled jobs flourish.
The central political narrative is that jobs are primarily lost to overseas competitors.
While this may be anecdotally true, low-skilled manufacturing jobs disappeared primarily as the result of automation — which, ironically, is produced by US manufacturers.
Offshoring only happened as a result of automating low-skilled operations.
I work in manufacturing (specifically metal machining) and my experience has given me much needed perspective on the issue.
Most people do not realize that manufacturing is a cannibalizing industry in terms of employment.
For example, Ethicon contracted an American engineering firm to design and build equipment that automates the production of surgical suture packets.
Prior to this equipment, American labor manually assembled each suture packet, completing one about every three to five minutes.
American manufacturers produced enough machines to outfit Ethicon’s facility in Puerto Rico.
Now, surgical suture assemblies are built at a rate of one per minute — a threefold improvement.
In other words, an American manufacturer was contracted by an American corporation to produce equipment that would send American jobs overseas. 
Once automated, production no longer requires the same skill and high wages, thus it is sent where lower wage labor simply monitors the equipment and refills materials..."