Technological Progress> Globalization
Globalization has accounted for only a small share of job creation and destruction over the past few decades. According to Pankaj Ghemawat, 90% of fixed investment around the world is domestic. Companies open plants overseas, but that’s mainly so their production facilities can be close to local markets.
According to Thomas Duesterberg, the US’s share of global manufacturing output has actually increased slightly since 1980.
The chief force reshaping manufacturing is technological change (hastened by competition with other companies, foreign and domestic). Manufacturing productivity has doubled over two decades. Employers now require fewer but more highly skilled workers. According to William Overholt, between 1994 and 2004 the Chinese shed 25 million manufacturing jobs, 10 times more than the US.