Bethlehem Steel cost structure 1970s vs. 2010s

When I worked for Bethlehem Steel 35 years ago, half the cost of making steel was labor. Bethlehem Steel, second largest steel company in the world: forty-five percent of their cost was materials — limestone, iron ore, coal — forty-five percent was labor, and ten percent was profit. Today it's ninety-five percent materials, ten percent labor, and negative five percent profit. Actually it's changed a little bit in recent years because the Chinese have started using so much metal.