[musingsole]

I think you misunderstand the authors point. There's unskilled aspects of a job that seem like an allocation waste to have skilled labor handle. But to properly account for some costly errors and such, an unskilled worker has to be trained...making them a skilled worker that should be able to better allocate their time elsewhere than the unskilled tasks.

[OldHand2018]

Based on the people I know, paying someone skilled wages to do an unskilled job is more than worth it right now.

One of the shops I know of is making small little pieces of aluminum in the central US and shipping them to Foxconn in China for assembly into computers. As fast as they can make them, which is constrained by the number of people they can get on the floor. 2020 was their best year ever, by a wide margin. Things are seriously crazy right now. If you’re wondering why, the answer is most likely tariffs. The more American value in the product, the lower the tariff once you import the computer. Nobody knows if Biden will continue this.

[Sharapolas]

From what you've said semi-automation is even more crucial as the more checks and automations you have the lower the bar of entry for the people on the shop. What a company pays is up to them, but having more options is always for the better.