is there some kind of button I need to press somewhere so that the AI realizes "actually I should pay $0.30 more to employ people in the most profitable industry in the market"
btw that weekly balance isn't +11.2 it's +11.2k
and no I can't press the subsidize button because I still have traditionalist economics
It's tough to say only having the one panel to look at but it seems like the problem is the livestock farm is paying better than the tools factory. It could be because your economy is too reliant on domestic meat/cloth production, you could try importing meat or building cotton farms to reduce the profitability of the livestock ranch, alternatively you could further reduce the input cost of tools by making the steel cheaper.
Also you could try subsidizing the tools factoryor dropping the (water boiler?) to a lower tier to reduce coal requirements and increase the value of the outputs.Also also you could attack the problem from a different angle and encourage immigration / education in that state, reduce the level of the livestock ranch building to free up employees and reduce efficiency of the ranch.