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Import Competition and the Great U.S. Employment Sag of the 2000s

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Listed:
  • Acemoglu, Daron
  • Hanson, Gordon
  • Autor, David
  • Dorn, David
  • Price, Brendan

Abstract

Even before the Great Recession, U.S. employment growth was unimpressive. Between 2000 and 2007, the economy gave back the considerable employment gains achieved during the 1990s, with a historic contraction in manufacturing employment being a prime contributor to the slump. We estimate that import competition from China, which surged after 2000, was a major force behind both recent reductions in U.S. manufacturing employment and-through input-output linkages and other general equilibrium channels-weak overall U.S. job growth. Our central estimates suggest job losses from rising Chinese import competition over 1999 through 2011 in the range of 2.0 to 2.4 million.

Suggested Citation

  • Acemoglu, Daron & Hanson, Gordon & Autor, David & Dorn, David & Price, Brendan, 2015. "Import Competition and the Great U.S. Employment Sag of the 2000s," CEPR Discussion Papers 10677, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10677
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor demand; Trade flows;

    JEL classification:

    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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