Many more jobs created than lost

By MARK J. PERRY
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
FLINT, Mich. -- Throughout human history, globalization and international trade have always destroyed some jobs in the short run. But in the process of destroying jobs, globalization has always created many more jobs than the number of jobs lost, and has significantly raised the standard of living of all workers in the long run.
For example, 1 million manufacturing jobs have been lost over the last decade, many having been outsourced overseas. That loss of manufacturing jobs reflects the downside of globalization for American workers, but fortunately that is not the end of the story. Over the last 10 years, 16-million new jobs have been created in the U.S. economy, and many of those new jobs are because of globalization.
For example, although some manufacturing jobs have been outsourced overseas in industries like motor vehicles, clothing and furniture, employment in the non-manufacturing side of those industries has risen due to increased production efficiencies and lower prices.
Since 1996, 200,000 jobs have been created in furniture sales, 133,000 jobs by auto dealers, and more than 220,000 jobs in retail clothing, at the same time that some manufacturing jobs in those industries were lost due to globalization.
In the service sector of the economy, 17 jobs have been created during the last 10 years for every one job lost in manufacturing, resulting in 17 million new jobs for Americans, more than offsetting the million manufacturing jobs lost due to globalization.
Three million jobs have been created in health care, and more than 1 million jobs have been added in education. Almost 2.5 million jobs have been created in the financial services industry, and 2 million more jobs in the leisure and hospitality industry.
Employment explosion
There are now 350,000 more architects and 600,000 more computer programmers than 10 years ago. In almost every industry except manufacturing, employment opportunities have exploded over the last decade of globalization.
And forget about the low-paying hamburger-flipping nonsense you hear about service-sector jobs. Most new service jobs -- engineers, nurses, professors, computer programmers, accountants, bankers -- pay more than the manufacturing jobs they have replaced.
Further, average pay for jobs in the service sector has increased by 42 percent since 1996, compared to only a 34 percent increase in manufacturing wages. Much of the growth in the service sector of the American economy can be traced directly to globalization.
U.S. firms operate more efficiently by outsourcing, which allows them to expand sales both here and abroad, supporting more jobs here and overseas.
For example, since one giant retailer started expanding globally in the 1990s it has added 1,500 service-sector jobs at its headquarters just to coordinate the distribution of products to stores in a dozen countries around the globe. Without globalization, none of those 1,500 jobs would exist today for American workers, and that is just one example of hundreds. Several recent studies have analyzed exactly that type of increased employment at U.S. multinational corporations, who are often accused of "exporting" jobs overseas.
Net increase
The data show a very different story of globalization and the net effect on U.S. jobs. For every one job outsourced abroad by a U.S. multinational like Microsoft or General Electric over a recent 10-year period, at least two new jobs were created here, for a net increase of almost 3 million jobs for American workers during that period as a direct result of outsourcing and globalization.
Simply put, globalization has been a major force behind U.S. job creation in recent years, and payroll employment has now reached record levels. Globalization has helped our economy create so many jobs that seven states have set record low unemployment rates this year and an additional 15 states are within 1 percent of their historical low jobless rate -- and that is something to celebrate on Labor Day.
Mark J. Perry is an associate professor of finance and economics at the University of Michigan at Flint. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.