Beyond Manufacturing: Rebuilding the Middle Class Through Service Productivity (legrandcontinent.eu)

• Prioritize quality job creation in services over manufacturing nostalgia
• Leverage AI and tech to boost productivity for non-degree workers
• Return to national policy space for balancing trade and domestic social stability

"Dani Rodrik contends that reindustrialization is an insufficient strategy for stabilizing the middle class. Economic anxiety and the rise of the far-right stem from the failures of hyper-globalization, not merely the decline of manufacturing. Rodrik proposes a 'productivist' approach centered on creating high-quality, high-productivity jobs in the service sector—health, retail, and logistics. By decoupling local labor needs from international competitiveness and fostering collective bargaining, policymakers can mitigate inequality. The EU must avoid the trap of being neither integrated enough to act collectively nor flexible enough to allow national experimentation."