Posted on 6/11/2004, 11:31:19 AM by MikeJ75
WASHINGTON -- More than 4,600 workers in the United States saw their jobs sent overseas in the first three months of the year, a fraction of layoffs counted by the Labor Department in a report released Thursday. The 4,633 displaced workers, counted for the first time in the new report, were about 2 percent of the 239,361 private-sector, non-farm workers who lost their jobs for at least 31 days from January through March.
But the Labor Department figures aren't comprehensive. They only include layoffs at companies employing 50 workers or more, where at least 50 people filed for unemployment benefits during a five-week period and were out of work for more than 30 days. About a third of all mass layoffs extend for more than 30 days, the report said.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com, said the offshoring figures are consistent with other estimates based on broader economic data. That data, he said, suggests an overall first-quarter loss of about 350,000 jobs at an annualized rate.
The report shows the outsourcing of jobs to other countries "is a significant force in our job market," he said.
But now that the economy is creating jobs, adding 1.2 million since May, "it's not an overwhelming force," Zandi said. "It's not an overwhelming problem now that the job market is creating lots of jobs in lots of different places."
Offshoring has affected blue-collar workers in America's factories for years. But the issue has been magnified in a presidential election year with an exodus of white-collar service jobs, particularly in call centers and technical support.
The Bush administration is sensitive to the issue -- it was criticized for an economic report in February stating that offshoring jobs "makes sense," followed by comments from President Bush's economics team supporting that view. The White House's nominee for a new position to focus on the loss of manufacturing jobs withdrew over criticisms his company cut U.S. jobs and shifted work to China.
But economists, including Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, say the United States must compete in a global economy that also will help create new jobs at home.
"The protectionist cures being advanced to address these hardships will make matters worse rather than better," Greenspan said in a February speech to the Omaha, Neb., Chamber of Commerce.
The report also found that 9,985 workers were laid off because work was relocated domestically, both within a company and to other companies. There were 119 layoff events due to outsourcing domestically and internationally, with 16,021 workers losing jobs. The average lob loss was 135 workers.
Two-thirds of the work relocation cases were in manufacturing, and two-thirds of the workers who lost jobs were in that industry.
The Midwest had the largest proportion of workers laid off from work relocations, at 34 percent, followed by the South, at 31 percent, the West, at 27 percent, and the Northeast, with 8 percent.
Of all layoffs, the West was hit hardest, with 43 percent; followed by the Midwest, 29 percent; the South, 16 percent; and the Northeast, 12 percent.
Ronald Reagan had the integrity to pursue international trade without compromising American interests in a fair and level playing field.
Juanterm has rejected this leadership with his Corporate Globalization Uber Alles policies.
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