Oren Cass

Oren Cass appears in Why are we so obsessed with manufacturing? as a manufacturing-policy voice focused on wages, productivity, and location. He argues that employers complaining about hard-to-fill manufacturing jobs should raise pay, while also saying competitiveness depends on productivity relative to wages.

The source uses Cass to connect factory enthusiasm to concrete labor-market discipline. If jobs remain vacant, the issue may not only be a missing worker pipeline; it may be that the job offer is not attractive enough under current Manufacturing Job Quality conditions.

Connections

• Manufacturing Job Quality - pay and work conditions that affect labor supply.
• Manufacturing Workforce Pipeline - skills and training branch that interacts with wages.
• Good Jobs For Non-College Workers - broader policy target.
• Tradable Sector Local Growth - location argument around where manufacturing can plausibly operate.