Really?  Did any kid ever think, "When I grow up, I wanna work in a factory!"  Did any parent ever say, "I hope my kid grows up to work in a factory just like me!"

This complete nonsense comes from muddle headed academics who associate "factory jobs" with the relatively high paying jobs Auto Workers had from the 1940s through the 70s, before the transition to a service economy and before factories were offshored for cheaper labor.  The UAW was a fairly strong union in those years.

AS a rule though, factory work always sucked and absolutely nobody who worked those jobs liked anything about them other than the fact they were the only jobs available for low skills people that paid a wage you could raise a family on.  The people who did it sacrificed their lives on the dream that their children would NOT have to work in a factory when they grew up.  The jobs were mostly boring and dangerous, and whether it was Paper Mills or Clothing factories, few ihndustries besides the Automotive and Aviation industries actually paid that well.  If you predate the 1940s to earlier factory work, you had child labor and nonexistent safety standards that lead to regular fires and deadly accidents. 

In any event, as The Boss wrote in "My Home Town", "those jobs are gone boys, and they ain't never comin' back".


https://www.npr.org/2025/05/09/nx-s1-5375146/trump-tariffs-factory-jobs-nostalgia

Americans still dream about factory jobs. Can they be brought back?

RE