Table 1

Wal-Mart – China goods trade and U.S. job displacement, 2001–2013

2001 2013 Change, 2001–2013
U.S. total Wal-Mart U.S. total Wal-Mart U.S. total Wal-Mart
Goods trade with China ($ billions, nominal)
U.S. domestic exports* 18.0 0.1 114.0 1.0 96.0 0.9
U.S. imports for consumption 102.1 11.4 438.2 49.1 336.1 37.6
U.S. trade balance -84.1 -11.4 -324.2 -48.1 -240.1 -36.7
Wal-Mart share of U.S. imports 11.2%
U.S. trade-related jobs supported and displaced (thousands of jobs)
U.S. domestic exports–jobs supported 161.4 0.5 767.5 6.5 606.1 6.1
U.S. imports for consumption–jobs displaced 1,127.7 126.3 4,890.9 547.8 3,763.2 421.5
U.S. trade balance–net jobs displaced 966.3 125.8 4,123.4 541.3 3,157.1 415.4
Wal-Mart share of U.S. Job loss 13.2%

*Domestic exports are goods produced in the United States and exclude foreign exports (re-exports), i.e., goods produced in other countries and shipped through the United States. Total exports as reported by the U.S. International Trade Commission include re-exports. Total exports were estimated to be $121.7 billion in 2013, and U.S. re-exports to China represent 6.33 percent of total exports. The employment estimates shown here are based on domestic exports only. See Scott and Kimball (2014), "Methodology" Appendix and endnotes 5 and 6 there for additional details on data sources and models used.  This analysis assumes job gains and losses due to Wal-Mart trade are proportional to the shares of trade in each year for domestic exports and imports for consumption.

Source: Author's analysis of U.S. Census Bureau (2013), U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC 2014), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS 2014), BLS-EP 2014a, BLS-EP 2014b, and Scott and Kimball (2014).

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