Quote from denner:
I might be in the minority of opinion, but I think that it is completely unsolveable. Automation, a reduction in traditional "bricks and mortar", offshoring, etc, etc...it just makes no sense to hire in the US and deal with the bureaucracy...
Even if you could convince 9 out of 10 companies to hire locally, it's that 10th company that will gain the competitive edge by cutting into their labor costs and offering more attractive pricing...and they will eventually steal all the market share.
Possibly a change in the tax structure that would penalize off-shoring and incentivise repatriation of capital and domestic hiring along the lines proposed by John Kerry would be a help. Then too, a return to normal levels of construction would be of great help. We had reached a point where housing and commercial building was nearly 25% of the economy. That's too high, but a return to a reasonable and sustainable level is going to happen. We have to work through the present inventory though before we can get there, and that will take a number of years yet. This problem of discouraged job seekers and a transfer of them to the long-term public assistance rolls is a very serious problem facing the country.
It is difficult to off-shore domestic construction, but I suppose you could via pre-fabs. And then there is the potential for automated domestic pre-fab production that could cut into construction jobs. These are not easy problems to solve. It takes creative thinking in Washington to do it.
Tsing Tao's idea of requiring companies that sell into the U.S. market to employ at least some U.S. workers is an example of the kind of creative thinking I'm referring to. Not sure if that could work, but it is a nice example of something to be considered.