Cameron Sees Technology as Unlikely Ally of Western Workers

DAVOS, Switzerland â€" The specter of rich countries losing jobs to cheaper workers in emerging economies and increasingly to smart machines has been an important theme at the World Economic Forum this week. As Eric Schmidt of Google put it: “The jobs problem is going to be the defining problem of the next two to three decades.”

On Friday morning, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain suggested technology might prove to be an unlikely ally to Western workers.

Pointing to a small but growing trend, he said some companies were reconsidering past choices and bringing jobs back home. Rising wages in emerging economies are one reason, he said, but more nimble manufacturing technology has also opened up the possibility of tailoring products more to consumers’ desires. Proximity to the British market and reactive supply chains are crucial in this new era of production, he said.

“In recent years, there has been a practice of offshoring, where companies move production facilities to low-cost countries,” Mr. Cameron said, addressing a packed auditorium in Davos. “But there is now an opportunity for the reverse. There is now an opportunity for some of those jobs to come back.”

Britain will set up a “one-stop shop” for companies to receive advice and support â€" what kind is not yet clear â€" on how to “re-shore” production, he said.

A survey of small and midsize businesses in Britain showed that one in 10 had brought some production capacity back in the last year, Mr.Cameron said. Only half that number sent production the other way in that period, he pointed out, reeling off a list of examples.

The food manufacturer Symingtons is moving its factory from China to Leeds. Hornby, a maker of model trains, is bringing some of its manufacturing from India to Britain. Jaeger, the fashion brand, stopped manufacturing in Britain 15 years ago but is now bringing as much as 10 percent back.

All this, Mr. Cameron said, will help bring “more of the benefits of globalization home” and ensure “those benefits are felt by hard-working people.”

Many economists here were skeptical that this trend would become more palpable in the coming years.

Advanced robot technology may well lead to fewer companies bothering with sending business elsewhere in coming years, said Andrew McAfee of M.I.T., co-author of “The Second Machine Age.” But there is no guarantee that it will be actual people working on the production lines.

Mr. Schmidt said one possible future situation involved more part-time work and shorter work weeks as jobs become more scarce. Even if the remaining work was shared, there was no guarantee that it would pay people enough to live on, he said.

Mr. Cameron appeared to have an answer for this as well. “Where companies can afford to pay the living wage,” he said, “I think they should.”