News / Economy

1 in 4 US jobs at risk of offshoring: Study

Wednesday, 19 July 2017 1:04 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 19 July 2017 3:31 PM ]

A worker inspects Mercedes-Benz C-Class frames as they move down the production line at the Mercedes-Benz US International factory in Vance, Alabama on June 8, 2017. (AFP photo)

As many as 25 percent of jobs in the US could be offshored and half of all low-skilled occupations could eventually be automated in the coming years, according to a new study.

The study, published by researchers at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, warn these job losses could have significant impacts on households and families, causing those who may already be disadvantaged to be hit even harder.

“These studies reveal that roughly one in four American jobs, across the income and educational spectrum, are at risk of foreign competition in the coming years," the researchers explain.

“Much more critically, approximately half of the jobs are at risk for automation,” they said. “Thus, considerable additional labor market turbulence is likely in the coming generation.”

The study also found that a disproportionate percentage of job growth and business expansion in recent years has occurred in only a small number of metropolitan areas.

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"Half of net establishment growth [or business formation] in the United States … occurred in just 0.64 percent of the more than 3,100 US counties," the researchers estimate.

US President Donald Trump made keeping jobs in the United States one of the main issues of his election campaign. He repeatedly warned that he would impose an import tariff on goods made by American manufacturers that moved jobs offshore.

In December, the then-president-elect warned companies that they will face "consequences" for outsourcing jobs abroad.”

"Companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences. Not going to happen," Trump said during a visit to a Carrier Corp plant in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Trump has pledged to create a healthy environment for business through lower taxes and fewer regulations.

Data from the US Department of Commerce shows that major American corporations cut their work forces in the US by nearly 3 million during the 2000s while increasing employment overseas by 2.4 million.

According to a report by Working America, more than 51,000 manufacturing plants, or 12.5 percent of total plants, closed between 1998 and 2008.

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