If Semi-Skilled Jobs....

are cheaper in Poland, then doesn't it follow supervisory and research jobs will be as well, so who needs expensive Irish, British, French, German, Japanese and US jobs when we can get them for half the price in Eastern Europe, China, India, Vietnam and so on.

The upside is I guess that transporting goods around the world is likely to get more expensive, so that being able to halve the manufacturing costs by producing in China, won't cut much ice if it then costs far more to ship it.

I wonder when it is going to be cost effective enough again to have smaller manufacturing units closer to your markets ? I wonder if those good old spreadsheets look at the price of oil over the payback period for a new factory, bet they don't, probably a bit too complex for them.