7/31/2008

33400 lost Kentucky jobs are linked to China

The U.S. trade deficit with China has been felt in Kentucky, which lost 33,400 jobs between 2001 and 2007, including 5,300 last year alone, according to a new study released Wednesday by the Economic Policy Institute.

Job losses in Kentucky came from many sectors, including the computer and electronic products manufacturing industry, where more than 8,000 workers were displaced.

Nationally, 2.3 million U.S. jobs were lost due to the China trade gap since Beijing’s 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization, including 366,000 jobs in 2007, the study revealed.

“Our flawed trade relationship with China is destroying good jobs in Kentucky,” Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said in a news release. “All manufacturing is facing a critical challenge, as we know, but what may surprise people is how hard workers in advanced technology are being affected. As China diversifies its export base — and it’s already expanding its electronic products, aircraft, auto parts and machinery — more American products will be unfairly disadvantaged.”

Paul added that “The major causes of the skyrocketing trade deficit with China are no mystery. China’s manipulation of its currency makes the yuan artificially cheap, effectively subsidizing exports. Beijing’s suppression of labor rights also lowers wages. China subsidizes some key industries and maintains barriers to some imports.”

The alliance is a nonpartisan, nonprofit partnership of several leading U.S. manufacturers and the United Steelworkers.

(Business First)

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