The latest U.S. economic news was Monday-morning blah: data on construction and manufacturing, two labor-intensive industries, showed recessionary pressures have not abated, givng whoever wins the presidential election on Tuesday a tough problem to deal with even before his term begins in January.

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Bart van Ark, executive director for economic research at The Conference Board, says Latin America still needs to develop more labor-oriented industries to complement the capital-intensive telecom and mining sectors.

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Look around and you'll find A.I. applications popping up in a rash of industries, making once labor-intensive tasks--everything from matching hungry shoppers with targeted advertisements to discharging patients from hospitals--far faster and cheaper.

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Low-value-added manufacturing that tends to be more labor intensive are the most likely industries to shift some of their operations outside of the established manufacturing zones within China or move their operations to another country, although that usually entails having to contend with a lack of developed infrastructure and a smaller, less skilled workforce.

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