> I am not saying they can all be doctors or other very high aptitude roles but I have no doubt they can learn new skills that will enable them to do more productive things with their minds than warehouse work for example.

I have less faith than you that the market will value those new skills at the same level.

The Rust Belt in the US is the example I would point to. No job has appeared in those areas to absorb those people who would have been working in the mills or the mines.

I'm no romanticist. Those jobs sucked.

However, the market valued those jobs rather well at the time. Nothing has come along since that valued those people at the same level.