That's not really better, though—it's a shift from a population who knows how to make things, to a population who doesn't know how to make things, because it's all been automated.
If you want people to learn how to make things even when it's economically non-viable to do so, you need to explore a totally different solution space outside of private industry. E.g. encouraging maker hobbies, or subsidizing trade schools. Industry will always move toward automation as long as it is cheaper.
I agree with all this.