R.I. eighth in country in jobs lost to China

THE ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE RELEASED a study saying Rhode island ranked eighth in the country in terms of jobs lost to China from 2001 to 2013. / COURTESY ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE
THE ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE RELEASED a study saying Rhode island ranked eighth in the country in terms of jobs lost to China from 2001 to 2013. / COURTESY ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked eighth in the nation in terms of jobs lost to China from 2001 to 2013, according to a study released by the Economic Policy Institute on Thursday.
Rhode Island lost 13,200 jobs, or 2.58 percent of its total, the majority of them in manufacturing, the institute said.
Every congressional district but one has lost net job opportunities since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, the study found.
Oregon lost the most jobs at 62,700 or 3.67 percent, followed by California (564,200 or 3.43 percent), New Hampshire (22,700 or 3.31 percent), Minnesota (83,300 or 3.05 percent), Massachusetts (97,200 or 2.96 percent), North Carolina (119,600 or 2.85 percent), Texas (304,700 or 2.66 percent), Rhode Island, Vermont (8,200 or 2.51 percent) and Idaho, (16,700 or 2.44 percent).
“This report leaves no doubt, if there ever was any, that the nation’s staggering trade deficit with China continues to be the single biggest impediment to a true jobs recovery, especially in regions with heavy concentrations of high-tech manufacturing,” Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said in a statement.
The EPI study said that 2.4 million manufacturing jobs were lost between December 2001 and December 2013 thanks to the imbalance with China, approximately two-thirds of all U.S. manufacturing jobs lost or displaced during that time.
The study said that global trade in advanced technology products, which has often been cited as a source of comparative advantage for the United States, is now dominated by China. The trade deficit in the computer and electronic parts industry grew the most, with more than 1.2 million jobs lost or displaced. Approximately $154 billion of the $324 billion U.S. trade deficit with China in 2013 was in computer and electronic parts.
As a result, the report found that many of the hardest-hit areas were in states known for high-tech manufacturing, such as California, Texas and Massachusetts.
View the report HERE.

No posts to display