Report: U.S. Lost 1.5 Mln Jobs to China in 1989-2003

[jamotto]

Link

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States lost nearly 1.5 million jobs between 1989 and 2003 because of increased trade with China, according to a report released on Tuesday by a government watchdog committee.

The report was prepared by the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressionally-appointed panel that has pushed for a tough U.S. approach to China on trade.

The study estimates that imports from China displaced 1.659 million jobs between 1989 and 2003, while exports to that country generated only 199,000 additional U.S. jobs.

The job losses have accelerated and moved into unexpected new sectors as the trade deficit -- which reflects the gap between imports and exports -- with China skyrocketed to a record $124 billion in 2003, report author and EPI senior international trade economist Robert Scott said.

"The assumptions we built our trade relationship with China on have proved to be a house of cards. Everyone knew we would lose jobs in labor-intensive industries like textiles and apparel, but we thought we could hold our own in the capital-intensive, high-tech arena," Scott said in a statement.

The report puts a large portion of the blame for the growing U.S. trade deficit with China on that country's "refusal to revalue its exchange rate."

U.S. manufacturers and labor groups complain that Beijing's decade-old long practice of pegging its currency at 8.28 to the dollar gives Chinese companies an unfair advantage by artificially depressing the price of their goods.

Expected U.S. gains from Beijing's entry into the World Trade Organization in December 2001 "have yet to materialize" and instead China is increasingly competitive in more advanced sectors such as autos and aerospace where the United States has long had a big advantage, the report said.

Old-line industries such as textiles, apparel, furniture, rubber and leather have borne the brunt of the U.S. job losses, although computer, electronic, and semi-conductor sectors have seen China-related losses as well, the report said.

"It is hard to overstate the challenges posed by this export behemoth," the report said.

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[Darkling]

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Originally posted by jamotto:

The report was prepared by the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressionally-appointed panel that has pushed for a tough U.S. approach to China on trade.

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A "Pro Labor" group put this together, what did you think they would say?

Everyone is wondering why it is that inflation hasn't hit double digits with Oil prices going up so high, the reason is lower pricing pressures everywhere, mostly generated from China, this has allowed the lowest interest rates in decades with advantages like, super low borrowing costs, allowing most Americans to afford ever larger homes, even with Real Estate prices rising. Low interest rates are the key to a higher standard of living becuase so many things depend on it, such as Auto loans and the ability for businesses to obtain credit.

Does the report add in all the millions of Construction jobs created by the housing boom? I doubt it, do they really think that interest rates would be so low today (which caused the Real Estate Boom) without the lower pricing pressures from China? I don't think so.

Just a few Decades ago, Reagan inherited double digit inflation and decided to let in a torrent of low cost goods from China, Taiwan & Japan, as expected Labor cried fowl, and claimed that the U.S. would lose millions of jobs, and they were right, but back then, unemployment was at around 12% and after Regan left office it was down to around 5%, so yes even though there were millions of Manufacturing Jobs lost, those jobs were more than made up for in other sectors of the ecomomy and we ended up much stronger in the end.

Also, Manufacturing jobs are being lost World Wide, becuase of things like Automation, the same thing that brought half the U.S. population out of the farmlands and into the modern world, should we all go back to being farmers?

[Guest]

My attitude about this type of stupid study is this...

What would I rather have my children be doing?

Steel mill work, putting together some printer, etc, or Programming computers, designing the printers, or possibly running the company that uses the menial labor in China etc?

What would you rather have your children doing?