Free Trade Creates Jobs
According
to Professor Andrew Bernard of Dartmouth
College , about 40% of
American workers work for firms that export. These exporting firms are vital
for American jobs, especially at a time of slowing job creation. The falling dollar makes American goods more
desirable abroad, creating more jobs for Americans. And foreign firms have headquarters here,
employing 5.3 million American workers. The Organization for International
Investment tracks these jobs by state.
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According to www.freetrade.org , free trade is not designed to create jobs.
"In fact, free trade does not create jobs overall. It leads to more jobs in some sectors and fewer in others, although, in the aggregate, for this country, it tends to exchange good jobs for bad. And it creates wealth, which is more important than jobs."
http://www.freetrade.org/node/82
The argument is that the "unpleasant" jobs are sent overseas and the more high tech jobs stay within the US, creating greater wealth. The solution for those who lose their jobs this way is more education so they are suited for the high tech jobs.
This is an unrealistic expectation, that all American workers are suited for high tech positions.
It also reinforces the idea that we are not concerned with what is happening in other countries, whether or not they get paid well or work in safe conditions, so long as Americans get to buy products more cheaply.
"Free trade allows consumers to buy a cornucopia of higher quality goods from other countries at lower prices than they would pay if they were restricted to buying homemade goods. Trade is obviously a huge benefit for consumers--that is, individual buyers."
Living in Detroit has made the consequences of free trade all too obvious in the abandoned buildings that litter blocks of the city. Free trade blames businesses for their own failures, sending consumers elsewhere. Meanwhile the consequences don't fall on executives, but on the workers. As long as free trade only benefits the elite and only risks labor, how can we poor support it?