High-Tech Industries Losing Jobs at the Fastest Rate; California, Texas, New York Among Biggest Losers 2.4 Million U.S. Jobs Lost Since 2001 as Trade Deficit Soars WASHINGTON, DC — The United States is hemorrhaging millions of jobs as a result of the nation’s growing trade deficit, largely with China, according to a report issued today by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Contrary to conventional wisdom, high-tech industries are losing jobs faster than any other sector of the economy, the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) pointed out. Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, 2.4 million jobs have been lost or displaced in the United States as a result of the burgeoning trade deficit with that nation, the report concludes. Growing trade deficits cost jobs in every state and congressional district (CD), the report found, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The computer, electronic equipment and parts industries experienced the largest growth in trade deficits with China, resulting in 628,000 job losses—26 percent of all jobs displaced by trade between 2001 and 2008.  The EPI report is the first to break down job losses to the congressional district level. Using the EPI data, AAM created an interactive map showing the impact by CDs. The hardest-hit districts were located in California and Texas, where remaining jobs in these industries are concentrated, and also in North Carolina, which was hit by job displacement in a variety of manufacturing industries. Other populous states like New York and Illinois also had major job losses. “China’s cheating is causing America to lose more than just the capacity to make widgets in the one-sided trade arrangements with China,” said AAM Executive Director Scott Paul. “Sophisticated electronics and high-tech products that once were made in the United States are increasingly being made in China instead. We are losing more and more of these good jobs.” The report cites China’s currency manipulation as a major cause of the growing U.S. trade deficit with that nation. China has tightly pegged its currency to the dollar at a rate that encourages a large bilateral surplus with the United States. Other causes of the deficit include massive industrial subsidies in China, lax labor and environmental law enforcement, intellectual property theft and piracy and Chinese policies that block market access to U.S. firms.   Learn more.