Copyright 2000 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
April 26, 2000, Wednesday 3 STAR EDITION
SECTION: A; Pg. 28
LENGTH:
326 words
HEADLINE: TRADE PICTURE;
America's stake
in globalization is a beneficial one
SOURCE: Staff
BODY:
Before the contentious debate about U.S.
membership in the World Trade Organization goes much further,
some time should be spent reviewing "WTO Report Card: America's
Economic Stake in Open Trade."
Critics claim that imports and trade
deficits cause a net decrease in employment. However, the report, issued by the
Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies (www.freetrade.org), makes a
compelling case for why that argument "runs straight into the brick wall of
reality." Since 1994, 12 million net jobs have been created in the U.S. economy,
driving the unemployment rate to a 30-year low, writes the author, Daniel T.
Griswold, associate director of the CTPS.
In fact, statistics show that
import growth and unemployment are negatively correlated. Since 1973, the
unemployment rate has tended to fall more rapidly in years with strong import
growth and to rise in years when import growth was weak or negative, says
Griswold.
"International trade does not lead to more or fewer jobs in
the U.S. economy," he further maintains, "but to better jobs. Our growing global
integration has boosted real compensation for American workers across the income
spectrum." According to the president's 2000 Economic Report, 81 percent of the
new jobs created since 1993 have been in categories that pay above the median
wage, and two-thirds have been in categories that pay in the top third of all
jobs.
The report effectively demonstrates that trade expansion and WTO
membership have been a double blessing to the U.S. economy, opening foreign
markets to U.S. exporters while allowing us to import a wider range of goods at
more affordable prices.
Of course, such a change in the economy doesn't
come without problems, such as job dislocation and the need for workers to
retrain and upgrade their skills.
But to argue outright against free
trade rather than how to constructively adjust to it is increasingly flying in
the face of the facts.
TYPE: Editorial Opinion
LOAD-DATE: April 27, 2000 
