American jobs Essay

Submitted By ajiyamou
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Pages: 4

AMERICAN JOBS Based on my expectations prior to watching Greg Spotts film American Jobs, I thought the film would be about positive things with regards to white collar or blue collar jobs with high wages, economic growth and fruitful International trade since the United States is a first world country. After attentively going through the movie, I discovered that part of my expectations were fulfilled but in a negative way because the trend that was going on did not only affect people but society at large. According to the film, here are some issues faced by people. National American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) NAFTA is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral rules-based trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Canada. Every living President says a future with NAFTA will be brighter (President Bush, Carter and Ford, Clinton). This agreement was not as beneficial to people as most political leader claimed it to be a win win situation. Some Representatives in the lights of Rep. Richard Gephardt –D Missouri argued that NAFTA would rather destroy Americans than help. NAFTA destroyed the lives of many people and leave thousands of Americans unemployed. This, furthermore, threatens the job of non-college workers as per Rep. David R. Obey-D Wisconsin. I witnessed the hardship of being laid off. My friend’s roommate, who was an air hostess at a Turkish Airline here in America, is unfortunately part of those being laid off after 10 years of employment, and her life went downhill. Apparently, she hadn’t been paying her rent for months and even food to eat became a huge problem for her. Her current state right now is an illusion. She has been given 24hrs to move out of the house and had no other option than to go back to her country Turkey after being in the U.S. for 17years .Talking to her touched me, and I felt very sorry for her and just wished I could help as she was going on and on expressing her frustration and anger repeatedly mentioning the good life she used to live and how she has been suffering over the past few months. The cause for much of this collapse are from textile factories moving to other places, from one state to another then from country to country e.g. China and eventually close down. Thousands of American workers have been laid off due to manufacturers’ outsourcing. U.S. computer companies started off-shoring and off-Shore outsourcing, whilst other manufacturers and classic American brands were closing their domestic plants searching for cheap labor and eventually exploited Mexican workers, especially women. This has posed significant impacts on the people, the society, and the nation as a whole. Factories moving to other parts of the world in search of cheap labor not only affect the economy but turn workers’ lives around. Many workers were displaced and weren’t given notice about closure of such plants. Workers were working very little hours that earned them nothing but $50 every two weeks. Outsourcing by