[nicholas73]

Would love to hear a detailed explanation, but my guess is that the deep recession of the 1970's forced companies to look at new ways to cut costs. That was the beginning of offshoring, ending pensions, and employee turnover. The recession gave cause and excuse to make the cuts, and companies found out they never had to go back. Nor could they necessarily have, given that they were no longer competing with a bombed out world following WW2.