When the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed in 1993, its proponents claimed that it would create jobs and raise incomes in the United States because of increased exports. Now they like to boast that 794,174 new jobs are a result of the trade agreement.
It’s a clear example of a half-truth that's worse than a lie. A study by the Economic Policy Institute shows that the NAFTA agreement is directly responsible for the loss of 1,673,454 U.S. jobs, meaning that the net effect of imports and exports results in 879,280 less jobs in the United States.
American investors have taken advantage of the agreement to invest in Mexico and move factories out of the United States. Most of jobs lost were high-wage positions in manufacturing industries, accounting for the lion's share of the more than 2.4 million manufacturing jobs that have been lost in the past three years. Thousands of dislocated workers were members of our union who have had to accept employment in service industries with substantially less income.
CHALLENGING UNFAIR TRADE
