ERS uses new benchmark to show impact of trade
February 06, 2015 |03:40 PM
A new benchmark used by the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service shows that agricultural trade supports more than 1 million jobs, the ERS said today.
“The structure of the U.S. economy changes over time, influencing the domestic impacts of agricultural exports,” ERS said in the study.
“Information on the changing structure of the U.S. economy is not available on an annual basis and, hence, is updated every several years, rather than yearly,” ERS said.
“The model used to generate the 2013 trade multiplier estimates has been rebased to reflect the 2007 Benchmark Input-Output (I/O) tables from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. These recently released tables reflect a more current and accurate picture of the structure of the U.S. economy than the 2002 I/O tables used in the 2012 analyses.
“As noted later in this documentation, the adoption of the new benchmark leads to results that show increases in total employment and non-farm employment and decreases in farm sector employment.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the new data shows the importance of granting President Barack Obama trade promotion authority.
“Expanded U.S. agricultural exports mean more new jobs, but our farmers and ranchers will miss out on new markets for American products if Congress doesn't act on trade promotion authority early this year,” Vilsack said in a news release.
▪ USDA Economic Research Service — Agricultural Trade Multipliers
▪ — Effects of Trade on the U.S. Economy
“The structure of the U.S. economy changes over time, influencing the domestic impacts of agricultural exports,” ERS said in the study.
“Information on the changing structure of the U.S. economy is not available on an annual basis and, hence, is updated every several years, rather than yearly,” ERS said.
“The model used to generate the 2013 trade multiplier estimates has been rebased to reflect the 2007 Benchmark Input-Output (I/O) tables from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. These recently released tables reflect a more current and accurate picture of the structure of the U.S. economy than the 2002 I/O tables used in the 2012 analyses.
“As noted later in this documentation, the adoption of the new benchmark leads to results that show increases in total employment and non-farm employment and decreases in farm sector employment.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the new data shows the importance of granting President Barack Obama trade promotion authority.
“Expanded U.S. agricultural exports mean more new jobs, but our farmers and ranchers will miss out on new markets for American products if Congress doesn't act on trade promotion authority early this year,” Vilsack said in a news release.
▪ USDA Economic Research Service — Agricultural Trade Multipliers
▪ — Effects of Trade on the U.S. Economy
