To be sure, an added few years may enable some workers to reach retirement with dignity, but it will also keep frozen in place younger workers whose opportunities to secure jobs with better long-run prospects diminish with time. I regret that trade policy has been inextricably linked with job creation.
We often try to promote free trade on the mistaken ground, in my judgment, that it will create jobs. The reason should be that it enhances standards of living through the effects of competition on productivity. It is difficult to find credible evidence that trade has affected the level of total employment in this country over the long run.