It means costlier labour in the U.S. (5)
I believe the answer is:
raise
'it means costlier labour in the u s' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'it means costlier labour in the u s' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'it' could be 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT') and 'e' is located in the answer.
's' is within the answer.
The remaining letters 'rai' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for raise that I've seen before include "better?" , "Aries (anag)" , "Wage increase" , "Lift up or rear" , "Produce" .)