Can someone else corroborate that is something the US lost because of labor costs? We are constantly told it's R&D and infrastructure costs. How much of that is

Can someone else corroborate that is something the US lost because of labor costs? We are constantly told it's R&D and infrastructure costs. How much of that is labor costs? It almost feels like labor costs is a good story to salve the ego when the US was simply beat on tech and tech investment.