It’s happening already. Industrial wages in China have been ramping up significantly for over a decade as the rural labour pool gets tapped out, manufacturers c

It’s happening already. Industrial wages in China have been ramping up significantly for over a decade as the rural labour pool gets tapped out, manufacturers climb the value chain, and the work force up-skills. This is why a lot of low value add manufacturing is moving to Vietnam. As a result Chinese manufacturers are investing heavily in robots. This isn’t really to replace workers though, as such, it’s that at the macro level they’re running low on workers willing to do those tasks. And before someone says “all they need up do is pay more for them to do it”, that’s missing the point. A lot of people in China have higher aspirations now. Fewer and fewer of them want to be clicking together bits on a production line any more, no matter how well it pays. They increasingly have the skills for higher value work, and want to use them.