The number of Florida jobs lost to outsourcing has caused the state to make the list of top 10 states losing positions to China, according to the St. Petersburg Times. A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington DC found that since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, the U.S. has lost approximately 2.3 million jobs to the country. Florida came in number 6 on the list of states losing employment opportunities to China.

Senior internal economist with the Institute Robert Scott has said that he is surprised by the increase in the U.S imports of computers and other electronics made in China, which include Apple’s iPhones and iPods, along with circuit boards and other computer parts.

"Electronics accounted for half of the growth in the trade deficit," he said. "It's also responsible for the fact that such a large share of the jobs lost are by people with college degrees."

Executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing said that the report is “groundbreaking.” He believes that it accurately depicts how both U.S. jobs and the economy are being effected by trade with China. He also stated that he hopes this will cause presidential candidates to focus their debates on trade in regards to China. The AAM helped to fund the EPI’s study into jobs lost.

Between 2001 and 2007, 100,900 Florida jobs were outsourced to various employers in China. In 2007 alone, 17,000 jobs were sent overseas to the country. This is even more significant due to the recent report that says that Florida has lost over 74,700 jobs since June of 2007 and June of 2008, according to the Miami Herald.

Of the jobs lost to China, 31 percent were previously held by Floridian workers that had at least one college degree. Those who lost their jobs due to outsourcing reported making, on average, $8,146 a year less with their new employers.

The companies responsible for outsourcing jobs to China and their reasons for doing so were not specified. Despite this, it has been assumed that almost all of the positions were lost due to the fact that labor is much cheaper overseas.

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