A new study sponsored by a U.S. government agency that monitors U.S.-Chinese relations quantifies the job losses that have occurred in Ohio and the rest of the nation due to rising trade deficits with China. The study's author, Dr. Robert E. Scott, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., uses an economic model that takes into account the net employment effects of imports and exports on 184 sectors of the U.S. economy. Net employment effects include potential job gains ("job opportunities") that would have occurred in the U.S. but did not materialize because growing U.S. demand was met by production in China. Over the five years from 1997 to 2001, Ohio lost over 21,000 job opportunities due to trade with China. After China's entry into the WTO in 2001, Ohio lost an additional 21,000 job opportunities just in the two years from 2002 to 2003. Ohio is one of eight states to lose over 20,000 job opportunities due to imports in the latter two-year period. The study also warns that further job losses are likely given that Chinese production is shifting to more technology-intensive sectors.

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