| |
Cause and Effect: Trade Deficit & Job Loss
The rising trade deficit has a lot to do with the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States, according to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute — http://www.epinet.org.
Between 1998 and 2003, more than 3 million manufacturing jobs in the U.S. have been lost. At the same time, the trade deficit in manufactured goods increased by over $230 billion.
Trade Deficit is defined when a nation’s imported goods exceeds its exported goods. The U.S. Census Bureau says the U.S. imported $332.3 billon worth of goods in 2004 while exporting only $197.8 billion of goods made in the U.S. to these same countries.
According to the EPI report, the rising trade deficit in manufactured goods accounts for about 58 percent of the decline in manufacturing employment between 1998 and 2003. This translates into about 1.78 million jobs since 1998 that have been lost due to rising net manufactured imports. |
