China is Not at Fault for Job Losses
The Claim
Wisconsin lost nearly 90,000 manufacturing jobs to China.
News posted on
Emerging story
A post making the rounds on Facebook in early June 2020, produced by America First Action, says “China Has been Stealing Our Manufacturing, Costing Wisconsin Almost 90,000 Jobs!”
The claim was repeated by many users across social media platforms.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation shows that while Wisconsin has lost many manufacturing jobs, China is not fully to blame. A January 30, 2020 report from the Economic Policy Institute argues that since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, many US manufacturing jobs have been displaced through the trade deficit. According to the US Census Bureau, the deficit is at an all time high:
However, while China’s economy has had a large influence on the number of manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin, it is not the only factor influencing job losses. Trade defecits do not directly cause job losses. Instead, specialization, technological changes, and productivity increases are the main reasons for job losses. In fact, a recent study found that productivity increases led to nearly 90% of manufacturing job losses in the US.
While Wisconsin has lost nearly 90,000 manufacturing jobs since the early 2000s, most of these job losses are not due to the trade war with China.
