Just to take one step further, labor costs are largely a function of local real estate costs.
reply> labor costs are largely a function of local real estate costs
replyDifficult to determine causality in that system. All we can say is places with expensive labour tend to have expensive real estate. (The confounding variable, I imagine, is immigration.)
To add to that; labour should be expensive. And lower repairability of consumer goods is a side effect that is worth dealing with for that benefit.
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