Trade Deals Cost 3 Million U.S. Jobs, Study Claims

ByJohn S. McClenahen Since 1994, when NAFTA and the World Trade Organization (WTO) debuted, some 3.04 million jobs in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have been lost, claims a controversial new study from the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a non-partisan think tank. "NAFTA and WTO have been equal opportunity [job] destroyers, hitting every state without exception," says Robert Scott, an EPI senior economist. According to EPI's calculations, 1.97 million of the total 3.04 million jobs lost were in manufacturing, roughly 65%. However, in figuring job losses EPI took into account both actual job losses and what it dubs "lost opportunities." The latter, says EPI, are jobs that would have been created if the U.S. trade deficit had not accelerated since 1994.