The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) finds that, in the United States, trade related layoffs account for only a small proportion of all layoffs ("Trade-Related Job Losses in the United States: 1 Percent of Total Layoffs?):
...what role do trade and the global economy play in the 18 million or so layoffs each year? The question is somewhat murky, since definitions of trade-related' job loss are unclear and reliable statistics are scarce. But Institute for International Economics scholars Gary Hufbauer, Scott Bradford and Paul Grieco review independent research and Trade Adjustment Assistance filings to develop a cautious estimate of 226,000 jobs displaced annually by import competition. The highest figures are a little over 400,000. Meanwhile, such research as exists on the movement of jobs overseas as services and manufacturers open operations abroad seems to produce a similar range of figures, from quite small numbers to a maximum of 400,000 a year. Overall, therefore, the surveys seem to imply imports account for between 1 percent and 2 percent of layoffs, and international competition, generally, perhaps 3 percent to 5 percent. Domestic competition, business failures, technological change, local or national recessions, and other factors would thus account for 95 percent to 98 percent of layoffs...
Direct losses are difficult to measure to say the least. An even more important question is how many jobs are/are not created due to trade and how those jobs compare, transportation jobs versus manufacturing jobs for example. It is easier to destroy jobs than it is to create them.
Posted by: Lord | June 27, 2005 at 03:43 PM