Ohio Job Loss Continued in April

The folks at Policy Matters Ohio are keeping an eye on employment data in Ohio, and the latest update is more bad news. According to seasonally adjusted payroll numbers for non-farm wage and salary jobs from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Ohio’s job market sagged again in April. While slightly above the lowest recent numbers (in the fall of 2003), the number of jobs remains lower than last year’s levels and way down from early in the decade.

It certainly doesn't help that China's entry into the World Trade Organization has been a disaster for domestic manufacturing jobs, as detailed in a report from the Economic Policy Institute called "Costly Trade with China." Supporters had argued that China's entry in 2001 would actually reduce its trade deficit with the U.S. and increase U.S. employment (by opening China's markets to imports and securing China's compliance with trade standards and rules). However, the agreement failed to include any protections to improve labor or environmental standards in China. Instead of improving the U.S. economy, the agreement to let China into the WTO has been a fiasco. China's policy of artificially devaluing its currency (effectively subsidizing Chinese exports), its suppression of labor rights, its direct subsidization of export production, and its strict non-tariff barriers to imports has resulted in exports to the U.S. six times greater than U.S. exports to China. China's trade surplus was more than 40% of the U.S. non-oil trade deficit, easily the most imbalanced of our international trading relationships.

How does that affect Ohio? The report estimates U.S. job losses due to our trading relationship with China at 1.8 million since 2001. Policy Matters points out that Ohio was the 8th hardest hit among the states, losing 66,100 jobs and job opportunities. This number is about 1.2 percent of Ohio's total employment base in 2006. Another blow to Ohio from bungled trade policy.