Between 2001 and 2010, the computer and electronic parts industry lost 909,400 jobs. The rapidly growing number of imports of computer and electronic parts, including semiconductors and audio-video equipment, accounted for more than 44% of the $194 billion increase in the U.S. trade deficit with China during that time, according to a report released on Sept. 20 by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
A total of 2.8 million jobs, largely in manufacturing, have been lost as a result of the growing U.S. trade deficit with China since that country's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001, the study reports.
The author of the report, Robert E. Scott, EPI's director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Research, points to illegal currency manipulation as a major cause of the rapidly growing U.S. trade deficit with China.
"This report offers conclusive evidence that immediate action by the Administration is needed to curb China's currency manipulation, which, along with China's blatant trade violations, are having the same devastating impact on high-tech production that theyve already had on the nations longstanding industrial base," said Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), a partnership of American manufacturers and the United Steelworkers union.
AAM is calling for immediate action. "If President Obama won't name China a currency manipulator," Paul said, "then Congress will have no choice but to pass legislation that will hold them accountable."
The 10 states that suffered the biggest net losses were California (454,600 jobs), Texas (232,800), New York (161,400), Illinois (118,200), Florida (114,400), North Carolina (107,800), Pennsylvania (106,900), Ohio (103,500), Massachusetts (88,600) and Georgia (87,700). These losses comprise more than 2.2% of total employment. To view of map of all states click here.
A total of 453,100 jobs were lost or displaced from 2008 to 2010 aloneeven though imports from China and the rest of world collapsed in 2009 during the height of the global financial crisis. In fact, the report notes the U.S. trade deficit with China increased $8 billion during the great recession, despite a collapse in world trade at that time. The total U.S. non-oil goods trade deficit to soar from 69.6 percent in 2008 to 78.3 percent in 2010.
The report cited other industrial sectors hit hard due to the growth in the trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2010, including apparel and accessories (178,700 jobs), textile fabrics and products (92,300), fabricated metal products (123,900), plastic and rubber products (62,000), motor vehicles and parts (49,300), and miscellaneous manufactured goods (119,700).
To read the full report click here.
