An EPI Paper, Unfair China Trade Costs Local Jobs
The Economic Policy Institute released a paper by Robert Scott that points out that, among other things, by their currency manipulation, China is able to keep the cost of exports artificially low:
All 50 states have lost jobs to China
"As concern over the US-China trade imbalance grows, a new paper by EPI’s Senior International Economist Robert Scott finds that 2.4 million American jobs have been lost to China between 2001 and 2008, and that every state along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico has felt the impact."
"Scott’s paper, Unfair China Trade Costs Local Jobs, provides the first detailed analysis of the jobs that have been lost since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. It finds that, in addition to impacting every US state, the job loss has touched every Congressional district in the country." [Editor's Note: Links to the PDF or Excel files to the tables by congressional district or district by alphabetical listing are below:]
- Supplemental Table A: Net job loss due to growing trade deficits with China, 2001-08, by Congressional district [PDF] [Excel]
- Supplemental Table B: Net job loss in Congressional districts due to growing trade deficits with China, 2001-08, alphabetical [PDF] [Excel]
New Hampshire, California, Texas all suffer big losses: "Scott’s paper features a color-coded US map illustrating where job loss has been the most severe, as well as several detailed charts that measure job loss by industry and by state. New Hampshire, which lost 16,300 jobs during the seven-year period covered by the study, suffered the largest job loss as a share of total employment. In terms of total jobs displaced, California was first, with 370,000 jobs lost, followed by Texas, New York, Illinois, and Florida, which all lost more than 100,000 jobs."
"In addition to the loss of jobs, the paper finds that US workers who have kept their jobs have suffered depressed wages as a result of competition with lower-wage workers overseas. 'The impact,' the paper says, 'has affected essentially all production workers with less than a four-year college degree – roughly 70% of the private-sector workforce, or about 100 million workers.'
"The paper received widespread media coverage throughout the United States, from the Sacramento Bee, to the Boston Herald, and The Toledo Blade. A Wall Street Journal story on the paper quoted Senator Charles Schumer (D., NY) saying, 'We’ve known for years that US manufacturing’s paying a heavy price for China’s activities, but these figures exceeded even our worst expectations.' "
"Scott’s paper comes at a time of growing concern over Chinese currency manipulation, which has kept the cost of Chinese exports artificially low, making it increasingly difficult for US manufacturers to compete. Unlike most other major currencies, the Chinese yuan does not fluctuate freely against the dollar. While the value of its currency should have increased as China exported more goods, it has instead stayed low, and China has aggressively acquired dollars to further depress the yuan’s value."
"Earlier this month, EPI hosted a panel on Currency Manipulation, where speakers including Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, stressed that a change of policy was needed to address an extremely depressed Chinese yuan, which was fueling massive trade deficits in the United States and Europe and threatening hopes of an economic recovery."
Go to to EPI's press release or the report itself.
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