U.S.-China goods trade and job displacement, 2001–2013
| Change ($billions) | Percent change | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2008 | 2013 | 2001–2013 | 2008–2013 | 2001–2013 | |
| U.S. goods trade with China ($ billions, nominal) | ||||||
| U.S. domestic exports* | $18.0 | $67.2 | $114.0 | $96.1 | $46.9 | 534.9% |
| U.S. imports for consumption | $102.1 | $337.5 | $438.2 | $336.1 | $100.7 | 329.3% |
| U.S. trade balance | -$84.1 | -$270.3 | -$324.2 | -$240.1 | -$53.8 | 285.4% |
| Average annual change in the trade balance | -$21.8 | -$10.8 | 11.9% | |||
| Change (thousands of jobs) | Percent change | |||||
| U.S. trade-related jobs supported and displaced (thousands of jobs) | ||||||
| U.S. domestic exports–jobs supported | 161.4 | 499.2 | 767.5 | 606.2 | 268.4 | 375.6% |
| U.S. imports for consumption–jobs displaced | 1,127.7 | 3,620.1 | 4,890.9 | 3,763.3 | 1,270.8 | 333.7% |
| U.S. trade deficit–net jobs displaced | 966.3 | 3,121.0 | 4,123.4 | 3,157.1 | 1,002.4 | 326.7% |
| Average annual change in net jobs displaced | 287.0 | 200.5 | 12.9% | |||
*Domestic exports are goods produced in the United States and exclude foreign exports (re-exports), i.e., goods produced in other countries and shipped through the United States. Total exports as reported by the U.S. International Trade Commission include re-exports. Total exports were estimated to be $121.7 billion in 2013, and U.S. re-exports to China represent 6.33 percent of total exports. The employment estimates shown here are based on domestic exports only. See endnotes 5 and 6 for additional details.
Source: Authors' analysis of U.S. Census Bureau (2013), U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC 2014), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS 2014b), and BLS Employment Projections program (BLS-EP 2014a and 2014b). For a more detailed explanation of data sources and computations, see the appendix.