We talked about this in one of my university classes recently. There's a difference between engineering a solution, and coding a spec. If you only need someone to implement your spec, then why not save money and outsource? Turns out, this has been happening a lot recently. In 2013 36% of CFOs (globally) said, "their firm was currently offshore outsourcing" [1]. I think we're losing that battle because nobody wants those jobs. So, I don't think there will necessarily be an innovation shortage, but there might be a hired hand shortage. I think the point being made though, was that shortages aren't bad if you're part of that limited supply.

[1] http://www.statisticbrain.com/outsourcing-statistics-by-coun...

>>Why not save money and outsource?

To be frank, I tried this for C++, and found that 'engineers' in India sucked and the competent ones cost almost the same as in the USA (70k/80k).

On the flip side I was able to find a really cheap graphics/publishing workflow (they clean MS word documents) but with 5x margins on our product, I didn't care nearly as much if we/I was paying people in India half the wages.

In truth, I think there are highly skilled jobs that can't be outsourced or rather have an even playing field.

What will happen here is that the more innovative Americans will go into other fields. They won't compete for lowering wages.

Why would they when they have better choices?

There is no innovation shortage necessarily. There is a shortage in the ability to capture market value from new innovations, typically due to undercapitalization.