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NewsFlash: January 30, 2007

Repairing the harm of globalization

The nation’s current approach to the challenge of globalization, which offers anything but a fair deal to U.S. workers, must and can be repaired. That’s the message that EPI president  Lawrence Mishel presented to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee this morning. Mishel’s  testimony  reviews the facts on globalization’s impact on American jobs and wages and recommends major policy revisions to halt and reverse the damage that has been done.

For many working Americans, the huge growth in foreign trade has resulted in the loss of good-paying jobs, downward pressure on wages, and increased inequality: from 2000 to 2005 alone, three million manufacturing jobs disappeared, at least one-third because of our trade deficit. But the greatest damage has been to wages – a loss of $2,000-$6,000 annually for the typical household. Mishel’s  testimony explains how neither the costs nor the benefits of unfettered globalization and trade are being widely shared, with workers’ interests suffering as a result.

Mishel details the wage and job impact from international trade and offers a new approach that would better serve the needs and interests of America’s workers and economy. He also submitted a paper by EPI founder and distinguished fellow  Jeff Faux on globalization’s threat to working families and a set of policy solutions as part of EPI’s new initiative, Agenda for Shared Prosperity.

For interviews or more information, contact the EPI Communications Department at 202-775-8810 or news@epi.org.

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