Post by unlawflcombatnt on Jun 7, 2007 20:33:14 GMT -6
There are numerous articles and estimates of how many jobs have been lost due to outsourcing. At least some of this job loss has been captured from the Dept. of Labor's Trade Assistance Authority numbers. Below are excerpts from Public Citizen that show some of these numbers.
1994 through 2002
"An estimated 1,113,538 US workers were certified as eligible for the Trade Adjustment Assistance program between 1994 and the end of 2002--the era of NAFTA and the global World Trade Organization (WTO) pacts. This program, established under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, originally provided assistance to workers who lost their jobs or whose wages had been significantly reduced as a result of increased imports. To qualify, groups of workers at affected facilities first had to apply for certification; if that was granted, then they had to file individual applications for benefits with their local Unemployment Insurance (UI) agency. For the first 12 years of its existence, very few workers received benefits due to rigid eligibility criteria.
These were eased in 1974 and between then and 1999 an estimated 3 million workers were certified as eligible for benefits under the program.....
It is important to emphasize that relatively few of all eligible workers are likely to have both applied for TAA certification and received benefits. For example, it has been estimated that less than 10 percent of all workers who lost their jobs in import-sensitive manufacturing industries in 1999 received benefits under the TAA program that year (see Howard Rosen, "Reforming Trade Adjustment Assistance" February 26, 2002). Some may not have known about the program, others may have decided not to apply and (as is typical of laid-off manufacturing workers) still others are likely to have moved quickly into lower-paid positions in the service sector without seeking TAA's retraining benefits....
The consolidated TAA program came into effect at the end of 2002 and data on certifications are available here...."
from Nov 2002 through Mar 2007
"The consolidated Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, which merged the pre-existing TAA and NAFTA-TAA programs, was created by the "Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act of 2002" and came into effect at the end of 2002. To date, 644,603 workers have been certified under the revised TAA program (November 08, 2002 - March 30, 2007). Groups of workers that have lost jobs or substantial wages because of trade must first file applications for certification of eligibility with the Department of Labor (DoL) in order to receive benefits...."
Again, these statistics represent only the job losses that can be recorded from application for TAA. A majority of displaced workers don't even apply, so the actual number of jobs lost is much higher.
The most recent TAA stats puts just the "recorded" job loss at 150,000 per year. The true number is much higher.
It's hard to see how anyone can claim we have a "labor" shortage, when American jobs continue to be outsourced, illegal immigrant workers continue to flood the American labor markets, and Corporations are downsizing throughout the nation.
1994 through 2002
"An estimated 1,113,538 US workers were certified as eligible for the Trade Adjustment Assistance program between 1994 and the end of 2002--the era of NAFTA and the global World Trade Organization (WTO) pacts. This program, established under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, originally provided assistance to workers who lost their jobs or whose wages had been significantly reduced as a result of increased imports. To qualify, groups of workers at affected facilities first had to apply for certification; if that was granted, then they had to file individual applications for benefits with their local Unemployment Insurance (UI) agency. For the first 12 years of its existence, very few workers received benefits due to rigid eligibility criteria.
These were eased in 1974 and between then and 1999 an estimated 3 million workers were certified as eligible for benefits under the program.....
It is important to emphasize that relatively few of all eligible workers are likely to have both applied for TAA certification and received benefits. For example, it has been estimated that less than 10 percent of all workers who lost their jobs in import-sensitive manufacturing industries in 1999 received benefits under the TAA program that year (see Howard Rosen, "Reforming Trade Adjustment Assistance" February 26, 2002). Some may not have known about the program, others may have decided not to apply and (as is typical of laid-off manufacturing workers) still others are likely to have moved quickly into lower-paid positions in the service sector without seeking TAA's retraining benefits....
The consolidated TAA program came into effect at the end of 2002 and data on certifications are available here...."
from Nov 2002 through Mar 2007
"The consolidated Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, which merged the pre-existing TAA and NAFTA-TAA programs, was created by the "Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act of 2002" and came into effect at the end of 2002. To date, 644,603 workers have been certified under the revised TAA program (November 08, 2002 - March 30, 2007). Groups of workers that have lost jobs or substantial wages because of trade must first file applications for certification of eligibility with the Department of Labor (DoL) in order to receive benefits...."
Again, these statistics represent only the job losses that can be recorded from application for TAA. A majority of displaced workers don't even apply, so the actual number of jobs lost is much higher.
The most recent TAA stats puts just the "recorded" job loss at 150,000 per year. The true number is much higher.
It's hard to see how anyone can claim we have a "labor" shortage, when American jobs continue to be outsourced, illegal immigrant workers continue to flood the American labor markets, and Corporations are downsizing throughout the nation.