It's not news that Americans love buying cheap Chinese-made goods, but the disparity between how much we import from China and how much we export to the country has resulted in about 2.8 million American jobs being displaced to China between 2001 and 2010. Florida has been particularly hard hit, as according to the Economic Policy Institute, we've lost 114,400 to China over that time. That's the fifth most of any state.
Florida isn't typically thought of as a major hub of manufacturing, but the state does, or well, used to excel in certain areas of ;manufacturing like medical devices according to 247WallSt.com. Most of the jobs lost to China, in Florida as well as across the United States, have been manufacturing jobs.
The effects of the trade deficit with China has had implications on employment beyond just manufacturing.
"Competition
with low-wage workers from less-developed countries such as China has driven down wages for workers in U.S.
manufacturing and reduced the wages and bargaining power of similar, non-college educated workers throughout the economy," finds the EPI. "The affected population includes essentially all workers with less than a four-year college
degree--roughly 70% of the workforce, or about 100 million workers."
Have fun on that next trip to Walmart!
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