A Piece of the Puzzle

Yesterday's edition of The New & Observer analyzed the impact that the loss of 400 textile jobs in Burlington will have on affected workers and the larger community. In January, GoldToe/ Moretz, one of the world's largest makers of socks, announced that it would lay off workers in Alamance County and shift equipment and production to Mexico.

As the N&O reported:

Joe Lutz, vice president for human resources at Gold Toe/Moretz, says that because of NAFTA the socks knitted in Mexico and shipped back to the United States are tariff-free, saving the company money and giving customers cheaper prices

The story then discusses the impact that NAFTA has had on workers across North Carolina. And while the trade agreement may have made socks a little cheaper, it has eliminated thousands of jobs across the state. In fact, an Economic Policy Institute study found that NAFTA destroyed 34,000 more jobs than it created in North Carolina over a ten-year period. The impacts on affected workers and communities have been severe. As one small Burlington businessman, who obviously wasn't thinking about the price of socks, told the N&O, "When that mill closes up, it's gonna hurt."

Yet NAFTA is just one piece of the economic puzzle that has buffeted workers, particularly lower-wage workers, across the state. The current agenda of trade liberalization harms not just those who lose jobs to trade, but also those who see their wages stagnate due to downward pressures on pay. Income stagnation and and widening inequality are as bound up in trade policy as direct job losses.

Now that North Carolina has become a focal point in the presidential nominating contest, it would be nice to hear the candidates talk about more than vague promises to bring back jobs; rather, they should confront the fundamental flaws in the country's approach to trade — an approach that has lowered the standard of living for working people like those about to lose jobs in Burlington.

(Cross-posted from The Progressive Pulse, a North Carolina blog.)