Will a “level playing field” create more jobs in our country?
(FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions)
Will “leveling the playing field” in these third world
countries create more jobs in our country?
No, “leveling the playing field” will not create many, if any, jobs in our country.
It is absolutely amazing that our politicians will say something like:
“We need to level the playing field in these foreign countries, so the American
workers can compete. This will save our jobs.”
What the politicians mean by “level the playing field” is more fairness for American
manufacturers to compete against foreign-made products.
“Level the playing field” would mean things like the foreign workers would have
more labor laws like we have in the US. Perhaps the foreign countries would reduce
their import restrictions against American-made goods.
It is almost impossible to believe, but our politicians have signed trade agreements
with foreign countries, which were so one-sided.
That is, we allowed the foreign-produced goods to be imported into our country
with no import restrictions, but our goods exported to the same country were kept
out by using tariffs and quotas.
Also, maybe more pollution standards for these third-world factories.
An example of “leveling the playing field” would be the foreign workers working 40
hours a week, instead of 60 or more hours per week as presently done in some
foreign factories.
First, there is no realistic way to enforce such labor “standards” in a third-world
country. Corruption is widespread in many of these countries. Even if the factories
said that they were meeting certain labor conditions and pollution standards, we
would have almost no effective means to verify the validity of their claims.
Second, while improving the working conditions of the foreign workers may be
beneficial to the actual workers, if it was achievable, the jobs would not return to
the US.
And if the third-world country allowed our goods to enter their country with no
import restrictions, it is still going to be almost impossible for US factories to
compete with goods produced in the third-world country.
The difference in the wages paid in a third-world country and the US are too great.
A garment worker in a third-world country may be paid only 20 cents per hour.
Even if the plant paid overtime, which is unlikely, the worker’s pay would only be
30 cents per hour.
American workers can not work for 30 cents per hour.
“Leveling the playing field” ignores the basic reasons that corporations moved US
factories to the third-world counties: very low wages.
A “level playing field” will not bring our jobs back.