Felix K. asks…

Q: I heard that manufacturing jobs are coming back to America. Your comments, please.

A: That is correct. In the 2000s, firms went overseas for manufacturing because of the cheap labor. Now companies are rethinking those decisions because of higher costs overseas and the realization that the total cost of manufacturing abroad was not only the unit cost of a widget, but needed to include the cost of U.S. engineers overseeing the production and the costs associated with quality issues, such as inspection, quarantine, reworking, and disposal of rejected parts. According to a new Accenture study, more than 75% of manufacturers surveyed reported a moderate to severe shortage of skilled workers . Moreover, most surveyed manufacturers plan to increase U.S.-based production in the next five years.