Productivity is measured by outputs created per unit of input. Our goal as a society that seeks to enrich itself is to find ways to create as many outputs as possible for as few inputs as possible. If an engineer developed an engine that could run twice as long on half the oil, we should celebrate a 4x increase in efficiency… it would be irrational to go “damn that sucks, think about how much less money the gas station will make!” The money that otherwise was going to be paid to the gas station to purchase the additional gas will now be directed elsewhere. The profits the engineer earns on this engine will either be spent somewhere else or invested, and the money that consumers save on gas will also be spent or invested somewhere else. Society gained.Now apply that same anology to immigrant labor or offshoring. If we can produce the same amount of food for $50k by hiring Mexicans vs $150k hiring domestic labor, then it is more productive to hire Mexicans.Same with making shoes or television sets or toys or laptops. Offshoring to lower costs is economically equivilent to the engineer who managed to build a more efficient engine. We produce more output per level of input. This either means we expand output of said good OR we free up inputs to be used elsewhere, or a mix of both :)
