To address the key area of public concern, I will focus here on the job-loss side of the equation. Estimates of the gross number of job losses associated with increased import penetration vary widely, but one representative calculation, by Lori Kletzer (2001), put the gross job loss due to imports at nearly 310,000 per year for the period from 1979 to 1999.
I stress that Kletzer’s estimate of gross job loss ignores any jobs created by trade, either directly or indirectly. The amount of “churn” in the U.S. labor market is enormous, a reflection of the continuous stream of entry, exit, and resizing of firms in our ever-changing economy.