When career politicians decided to prioritize profits over people, they didn’t just dismantle entire communities; they also jeopardized the well-being of American workers, leading to alarming spikes in alcohol abuse, drug overdoses, and suicide rates.
Research has consistently highlighted the devastating effects of detrimental trade policies:
- A 2020 study published in American Economic Review: Insights revealed that regions sensitive to shifts in international trade policy experienced significant increases in fatal drug overdoses, particularly among white populations. The study concluded that these trade policy changes correlate with the troubling upsurge in “deaths of despair” since 2000 among working-age whites.
- A 2019 analysis in SSM-Population Health indicated that from 1999 to 2015, job losses attributed to international trade were positively linked to rising opioid-related fatalities at the county level.
- “For every 1,000 jobs lost due to trade, there was a corresponding 2.7 percent increase in opioid deaths.”
- “When fentanyl entered the picture, that same job loss was associated with an increase of 11.3 percent in such deaths.”
- A 2018 article in the Journal of International Economics noted that data from the U.S. Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program demonstrated that one additional TAA trade-displaced worker resulted in a net loss of about two jobs in the broader community, exacerbated by limited geographic mobility.
- A 2020 publication in SSM-Population Health highlighted a growing body of research linking economic decline in labor markets to rising opioid deaths. Monnat (2018) discovered a cross-sectional association between manufacturing reliance and average drug-related mortality rates across U.S. counties. In a subsequent study, Monnat (2019) found that drug mortality rates among non-Hispanic whites were notably higher in service sector-dependent counties compared to those less specialized.
- Monnat (2018): “Counties heavily reliant on manual labor sectors, such as manufacturing and mining, that have endured significant job losses and stagnant wages in recent decades, may experience higher drug-related mortality rates.”
