We saw the sucking sound of Jobs start under the second Bush. Gave Tax credits to American companies that created jobs. Only problem was that the companies created them overseas and off shore.
Obama really picked up on that. The job loss was huge. Progressives jumped on Trump when GM announced the final closing of several plants including one in my back yard. But under my Congressman Tim Ryan the area lost 25,000 manufacturing jobs during his tenure.
Thanks Bush II, Obama, and Biden.
Employment Effects
A large body of literature addresses the impact of trade and trade policy shocks on levels of employment
across geographic regions, industries, and workers. Much of this literature has documented that
increased U.S. imports from low–wage economies reduce domestic employment in import–competing
industries. Research broadly finds that U.S. workers in import–competing industries experienced
significantly higher rates of unemployment or underemployment, transition to different industries or
occupations, or exit from the labor force. The effects of exports on employment remains largely
underresearched, but existing studies suggest that exporting may positively impact employment
outcomes.
• Employment effects across different education and skill levels: Existing research finds evidence
that trade shocks have led to different employment outcomes for workers across education and
skill levels. The literature is clear that increased offshoring and import competition from low–
wage economies reduced employment for manufacturing workers commonly defined as low–skill.
However, other dimensions, including effects of exports or services trade, remain relatively
underresearched, with only a small number of studies.
• Employment effects by gender: Literature on the impact of trade on the employment and labor
force participation of men and women in the United States links trade exposure to the gender
composition of the labor force in different industries, showing that men are more likely to work
in import–competing firms that tend to contract with increased import competition. The
literature shows inconclusive effects of trade liberalization on labor force participation by gender.
• Employment effects by race/ethnicity: Literature on the impact of trade on employment and
labor force outcomes by race or ethnicity is limited and predominantly focuses on measuring
impacts of imports on Black and Hispanic workers, but not other racial minority groups. The
limited literature shows that, in the face of trade shocks, Black and other Nonwhite workers fare
worse than their White counterparts.
Wage Effects
A substantial body of research has documented the effects of various trade policy shocks on wages and
income across different groups of workers. Researchers have found that wage and income vary
significantly depending on workers’ exposure to trade shocks, whether workers change occupations or
industries in response to a shock, as well as worker characteristics such as educational attainment,
gender, or race.
• Wage effects across different education and skill levels: Several studies find that import
competition–induced transitions between industries and occupations significantly reduce
earnings for workers and these adverse wage effects are especially pronounced for non–college–
educated workers or those previously employed in manufacturing jobs. Conversely, college–
educated workers and non–production manufacturing workers such as managers experience
lower or no wage or income loss following trade–induced employment transitions.
• Wage effects by gender: Literature on the impact of trade on wages by gender suggests that the
gender wage gap declines in the presence of import competition. This result is generally not due
Executive Summary
United States International Trade Commission | 19
to increases in wages of women but rather declines in wages of men who switch out of import–
competing sectors.
• Wage effects by race/ethnicity: Literature on the impact of trade on wages by race or ethnicity is
limited and predominantly focused on measuring the impact of imports on Black and Hispanic
workers, but not other minority groups. The limited literature suggests that import competition
had a large and disproportionately negative effect on wages of minority
