Consider the offshoring of manufacturing to undeveloped/developing nations. It reduced manufacturing costs, increased profits to businesses, and/or lowered the

Consider the offshoring of manufacturing to undeveloped/developing nations. It reduced manufacturing costs, increased profits to businesses, and/or lowered the price to consumers giving the products a competitive advantage over those made in developed nations. The ability to outsource to places where cost of living and wages were low allowed this to occur. I don't see that the office-based/remote-based working situation is much different to this. The main uncertainty whether remote working is actually as effective, at scale, as when it occurs in an office environment. Since knowledge work output is far less tangible than manufacturing output, I'm skeptical. The main incentive for employers to shift to remote workers, outside of the current pandemic situation, is the same reason they shifted to open-plan offices - Cost saving. Here, that's realized via lower wages.