Trans-Pacific Partnership would hurt black workers

(Special from NorthStarNews Today) — The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed trade agreement being vigorously pushed for passage by President Barack Obama before he leaves office, would hurt non-college educated black workers, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reported.

In a paper titled “The Trans-Pacific Partnership would hurt black and Hispanic workers even more than white workers,” EPI, a Washington, D.C. – based think tank, reported that growing imports from low-wage, less-developed countries, reduced the wages of the typical non-college educated U.S. worker in 2011 by 5.5 percent, or roughly $1,800, for a full-time, full-year worker earning the average wage for workers without a four-year college degree.

There are nearly 100 million Americans without a four-year degree, and they have suffered wage losses of $180 billion per year, EPI reported. Imports from low-wage, less-developed countries tripled from 2.9 percent in 1989 to 8.4 percent in 2011, EPI reported.

Three-quarters of black workers (75.5 percent) lack a college degree compared with 62.4 percent of white workers.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a secret trade deal between the United States and 11 other nations, including many along the Pacific Rim. Six of the 12 members of TPP are: Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam, Chile and Brunei.

They are low-wage developing countries, and if TPP leads to expanding trade with these countries, it will contribute to a continuing growth of imports and growing downward pressure on the wages of non-college educated workers, EPI reported. Ford Motor Co. recently announced that it building a $1.6 billion small car manufacturing plant in Mexico that will employ 2,800 workers.

“This deal would be especially harmful to black and Hispanic workers who already suffer high unemployment and lower wages than whites,” EPI said.

This article originally published in the September 26, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.