placed textile and apparel workers in North Carolina. Of those workers who lost their jobs between 1986 and 1992, 91 percent of textile workers and 86 percent of apparel workers eventually found other jobs—somewhat below the reemployment rate of 94 percent for manufacturing industries as a whole. But while displaced manufacturing workers generally (including all those who lost their jobs for reasons other than foreigncompetition) experienced a 10 percent pay cut in their new jobs, former textile workers earned 99 percent of their old wages, and former apparel workers actually averaged a 22 percent pay raise.
Irwin also takes on the more voguish grounds for closing markets—in particular, that international competition promotes environmental degradation and abusive labor practices. Irwin turns the tables and shows how the waste of resources caused by trade barriers includes natural resources as well. For example, agricultural protectionism works to shift farm production to countries with less favorable growing conditions, thereby encouraging the overuse of pesticides and fertilizers.
Comments