279,000 Oregon Jobs Vulnerable to Offshoring

For Immediate Release
October 3, 2008

Nearly 1-in-5 Oregon Jobs Are Vulnerable to Offshoring, Study Finds
Candidates Asked to Support Policies that Keep Jobs in Oregon

Portland, OR — Nearly one-and-five Oregon jobs are vulnerable to being sent overseas, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released in-state today by the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign. At least 279,000 Oregon jobs—or 18.3% of the state’s total employment—are considered “offshorable.” Labor advocates say that the findings highlight the need for new trade policies that limit offshoring.

“Oregon has already lost tens of thousands of jobs as a result of failed policies like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),” said Arthur Stamoulis, director of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign. “The continued loss of Oregon jobs is not inevitable. If elected officials support a change in trade policy, it will help keep more good-paying jobs in state.”

On a national basis, the EPI data show that workers whose jobs are most vulnerable to offshoring typically have a four-year college degree and work in positions paying an average of $8,000 more per year (or 14% more) than non-offshorable jobs. A wide array of occupations is cited as offshorable, including computer programmers, actuaries, graphic designers, research scientists, bioengineers financial analysts and more. A ranking of the top 100 occupations must vulnerable to offshoring is available online at: http://www.citizen.org/trade/offshoring/articles.cfm?ID=17454

“Oregon has watched its manufacturing base steadily move abroad for a number of years. Only recently have we seen this much wider range of occupations also move overseas,” said Madelyn Elder, president of Communications Workers of America Local 7901. “Oregonians need to come together and demand solutions from our political candidates before the only employment options left in this state are at Wal-Mart.”

To prevent the offshoring of further Oregon jobs, the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign recommends that Congressional members add their names to fair trade legislation first introduced this June called the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act. To date, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-4th) is the only Member of Congress from the Oregon delegation who has cosponsored the legislation.

The TRADE Act establishes a process for reviewing and renegotiating existing trade pacts, such as NAFTA and the World Trade Organization. It also establishes new criteria for what must be and cannot be included in future trade deals, and describes the key elements of new trade policymaking procedures. The legislation is supported by labor, environmental and family farm organizations across Oregon and the nation.

In 2007, Princeton economist and former Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Blinder, published a landmark study examining the tasks performed in hundreds of occupations and ranking them on an “offshorability index.” While many production jobs have long been recognized as offshorable, Blinder’s methodology pointed to the susceptibility of relatively high-paying service sector jobs to offshoring. Particularly vulnerable are jobs that do not require on-site presence, so that the tasks involved can be accomplished by phone and over the Internet.

The analysis conducted by EPI applies Blinder’s methodology and assumptions, using occupations categories and job numbers for Oregon. Blinder was attempting to estimate the number of jobs that were potentially offshorable nationwide, and found that as many as 38 million American jobs could be offshored in the foreseeable future. The EPI analysis provides numbers specifically for the state of Oregon.

“It is the definition of insanity for Congress to keep passing the same type of trade agreement over and over again, and expect different results,” said Stamoulis. “Politicians like Gordon Smith need to own up to the harm free trade agreements have caused this state. If they continue on with business-as-usual, hundreds of thousands of Oregon families could eventually find themselves out of work.”

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