CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- China's soaring trade deficit with the U.S. cost Americans 2.3 million jobs and $19.4 billion in lost wages between 2001 and 2007, according to an Economic Policy Institute study released Wednesday.
The Alliance for American Manufacturing blamed unfair trade policies for encouraging U.S. companies to ship jobs to China, where labor is cheaper and its currency undervalued.
"Our flawed trade relationship with China is destroying good jobs," executive director Scott Paul said in a prepared statement.
Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau and United States International Trade Commission, the Washington, D.C.,-based think tank said high-tech workers were hit especially hard after China entered the World Trade Organization in 2001.
Imports of computers and electronic parts accounted for nearly half of the $178 billion increase in the trade deficit during that time period.
It also blamed the trade imbalance for pushing down wages an average of $8,146.
Overall, California suffered the most losses, with 325,800 fewer jobs. It was followed by Texas at 202,900, New York at 127,000, Illinois at 102,800 and Ohio at 102,700.
North Carolina ranked eighth among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., with 79,800 jobs lost, 11,372 of them within the apparel industry.
Virginia's job losses totaled 39,500 while West Virginia's totaled 7,200, including 900 workers in the wood products manufacturing industry who were displaced last year.