New study shows the damage of U.S.-China Trade

[True Earthling]

This pretty much confirms what most people here already know...

For years, economists have told Americans worried that cheap Chinese imports will kill jobs that the benefits of trade with China far outweigh its costs. New research suggests the damage to the U.S. has been deeper than these economists have supposed. The study, conducted by a team of three economists, doesn't challenge the traditional view that trade is ultimately good for the economy. Workers who lose jobs do eventually find new work or retire, while the benefits from trade, such as lower prices, remain. The problem is the speed at which China has surged as an exporter, overwhelming the normal process of adaptation.

The study rated every U.S. county for its manufacturers' exposure to competition from China, and found that regions most exposed to China tended not only to lose more manufacturing jobs, but also to see overall employment decline. Areas with higher exposure also had larger increases in workers receiving unemployment insurance, food stamps and disability payments.

The authors calculate that the cost to the economy from the increased government payments amounts to one- to two-thirds of the gains from trade with China. In other words, a big portion of the ways trade with China has helped the U.S.—such as by providing inexpensive Chinese goods to consumers—has been wiped out. And that estimate doesn't include any economic losses experienced by people who lost their jobs.
http://goo.gl/rzgmF

[kentuck]

1. Basically, the taxpayers pay for workers the corporations cut...

when they move jobs overseas. We pay with food stamps, unemployment, and social costs. As the corporations make fortunes off the cheap foreign labor. Another way we are subsidizing the big corporations....

[MrTriumph]

2. And Obama says "free" trade is good for US jobs. What a phoney.

x

[provis99]

3. Workers who lose jobs do eventually find new work or retire,

yeah, but what kind of jobs do they get? Going from $15\hour assembling RCA tvs to going to $7\hour at WalMart? How is free trade helping in these cases?