Regarding the labor costs, consider that you can go work in an Amazon warehouse and make ~$22 an hour for essentially unskilled labor.
Maybe working on an American Foxconn plant would be more desirable (I have my doubts) but I still couldn't see the labor cost being less than $25/hr at a bare minimum
It's not the most welcoming read in terms of sci-fi but I love that book. That and its sequel (Echopraxia) do what sci-fi is supposed to do (make you think).