U.S.–China goods trade and job displacement, 2001–2015
| Change ($billions) | Percent change | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2008 | 2015 | 2001–2015 | 2008–2015 | 2001–2015 | |
| U.S. goods trade with China ($ billions, nominal) | ||||||
| U.S. total exports* | $19.2 | $71.5 | $116.1 | $96.8 | $44.6 | 503.4% |
| U.S. general imports | $102.3 | $337.8 | $483.2 | $381.0 | $145.5 | 372.5% |
| U.S. trade balance | ‑$83.0 | ‑$266.3 | ‑$367.2 | ‑$284.1 | ‑$100.8 | 342.1% |
| Average annual change in the trade balance | ‑$20.2 | ‑$14.4 | 11.2% | |||
| Change (thousands of jobs) | Percent change | |||||
| U.S. trade-related jobs supported and displaced (thousands of jobs) | ||||||
| U.S. total exports–jobs supported | 171.9 | 544.2 | 826.6 | 654.7 | 282.4 | 380.8% |
| U.S. general imports–jobs displaced | 1,129.6 | 3,621.2 | 5,227.6 | 4,098.0 | 1,606.4 | 362.8% |
| U.S. trade deficit–net jobs displaced | 957.7 | 3,077.0 | 4,401.0 | 3,443.3 | 1,324.0 | 359.6% |
| Average annual change in net jobs displaced | 246.0 | 189.1 | 11.5% | |||
* Total exports as reported by the U.S. International Trade Commission include re-exports. Domestic exports are goods produced in the United States and exclude goods produced in other countries and shipped through the United States (known as foreign exports or re-exports). Domestic exports were estimated to be $107.7 billion in 2015. The employment estimates shown here are based on total exports. See footnote 3 for additional details.
Source: Author's analysis of U.S. Census Bureau (2013), U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC 2016a), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS 2016e), and BLS Employment Projections program (BLS-EP 2014a and 2014b). For a more detailed explanation of data sources and computations, see the appendix.