Exporting U.S. Jobs Is Good for Economy,
Declares Bush's Chief Economic Adviser

If you're a textile worker whose job was exported to China or a computer programmer whose work is now being done in India, please don't start complaining. Sending U.S. jobs overseas is good for the national economy, says N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.

In his annual Economic Report, signed by the President and released Feb. 9, Mankiw explains his rationale for encouraging the export of American jobs. He asserts that "when a good or service is produced more cheaply abroad, it makes more sense to import it than make or provide it domestically."

In a press interview, he said that "outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade" and that "more things are tradable than were tradable in the past, and that's a good thing."

Despite the continuing exodus of American jobs, Mankiw's report predicts — with no evidence to support his contention — that the economy will generate 3.9 million new jobs this year. That would mean 325,000 jobs per month. Yet in January, only 112,000 jobs were created, about 70% in low-wage occupations.

In the Economic Report, President Bush said the economy "is strong and getting stronger," thanks in part to his tax cuts, and that the nation was finally beginning to enjoy "a mounting prosperity that will reach every corner of America."

Bush's credibility is being increasingly challenged, especially his promises about new jobs. In last year's Economic Report of the President, he predicted 1.7 million jobs would be created in 2003. Instead the nation lost 53,000 jobs. In Bush's three years in office, 2.2 million jobs have vanished.

The economy, especially the job-creating record of the Bush administration, is certain to be a hot-button issue as the 2004 election campaign picks up steam. Democrats are prepared to pounce on Bush's advocacy of overseas outsourcing as a major cause of heavy losses of manufacturing and service sector jobs.

Mankiw faced criticism in person when he appeared before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee to present his economic report. Rep. Pete Stark, (Cal.), the panel's ranking Democrat, told him: "Bush stands idly by as jobs continue to take flight from the U.S., and now we know why. It's part of his economic plan."

Mankiw, a prominent Harvard University economist, contends that the U.S. economy ultimately will benefit when the production of goods and services finds its way to the nation that can render them most efficiently. He acknowledged the pain that trade-related dislocations can cause individual workers and entire communities. "We need to help workers find jobs and make sure to create jobs here," he said. "But we shouldn't sort of retreat from the basic principles of free trade."

Democratic presidential contenders were quick to challenge the Bush endorsement of corporate outsourcing abroad, declaring that Bush was out of touch with the problems of the nation's workers.

"They've delivered a double blow to America's workers, 3 million jobs destroyed on their watch, and now they want to export more of our jobs overseas," said John Kerry, the Massachusetts Senator, who is the front runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. "What in the world are they thinking?"

While the heated debate continues, American workers are being priced out of the global job market, and the trend is continuing. So far, neither the AFL-CIO nor the Democratic Party has come up with a practical solution to the problem.

Our weekly columns, "LaborTalk" and "Labor and the War," can be viewed at our Web site www.laboreducator.org. Union members who wish to be informed about the AFL-CIO reform movement should visit www.rankandfileaflcio.org.