American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition
PRESS STATEMENT
U.S. Loses 467,000 Jobs in June, Including 136,000 in Manufacturing
U.S. Must Help Domestic Manufacturing to Stimulate Economy
CONTACT: Lloyd Wood, Dir. of Membership and Media Outreach
(202) 452-0866 or
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July 2, 2009
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today that the United States lost 467,000 jobs in June. From December 2007 to June 2009, seasonally-adjusted U.S. nonfarm employment has fallen by 6.46 million jobs. The U.S. non-farm employment figure of 131.692 million is at its lowest point since September 2004 and even is lower than it was May 2000 when the U.S. population was 25 million people smaller than today as estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Seasonally-adjusted U.S. private sector employment is faring worse. In June 2009, United States had fewer private sector jobs than it did in March 2004 and even October 1999. Since December 2007, the United States has lost 6.645 million private sector jobs
U.S. manufacturing employment fell by 136,000 jobs in June, dropping to 11.854 million. The United States now has lost 786,000 thousand manufacturing jobs since January 2009. U.S. manufacturing employment now is at its lowest level since May 1941. In the last decade, from June 1999 to June 2009, U.S. manufacturing employment has fallen by 31.5 percent, a loss of more than 5.4 million good middle-class jobs.
American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC) Executive Director Auggie Tantillo said, "Job losses like these will continue to mount until the United States junks its globally uncompetitive economic policies. The United States must help, not hurt, domestic manufacturing to stimulate the economy.”
“If U.S. policymakers are serious about halting the recession and jumpstarting the economy, then it must make policy changes that will stimulate domestic industries subject to international competition, like manufacturing, by making then more competitive in the global market,” Tantillo continued.
Noting the policy recommendations listed below, Tantillo added, “Unless the United States adopts commonsense policies to level the playing field by combating the foreign unfair trade practices driving U.S. jobs, output, and investment offshore, trying to fix the U.S. economy will be akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”
To fix its broken economy, the United States must:
- Eliminate tax disadvantages that undermine the competitiveness of U.S. producers at home and abroad, or that discourage investment in America. Specifically, America must negate the $474 billion disadvantage to U.S. producers of goods and services caused by foreign border-adjusted taxes, such as value-added (VAT) taxes by passing H.R. 2927, the Border Tax Equity Act of 2009 introduced by Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-NJ).
- Combat the illegal, mercantilist practice of prolonged currency misalignment by enacting legislation to make it actionable under U.S. trade countervailing duty and anti-dumping law by passing S. 1027/H.R. 2378, the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act of 2009, introduced by U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Jim Bunning (R-KY) and Congressmen Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Tim Murphy (R-PA) respectively.
- Aggressively enforce U.S. laws to halt foreign illegal trade activities such as dumping, subsidization, and intellectual property theft. In addition, U.S. policy must ensure that all goods sold here meet U.S. food and product safety standards.
- Implement a comprehensive strategy to reduce U.S. dependence on imported energy.
- Ensure that the “Buy American” provisions in the recently passed stimulus are properly implemented and vigorously enforced.
- Include mandatory border-adjusted assessments on all imports from countries that do not meet U.S. regulatory standards with respect to any “cap and trade” climate change legislation that may be passed.
- Promote American interests by requiring full reciprocity, fairness, and transparency in all U.S. trade agreements, including in such areas as labor and environmental standards.
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