The U.S. economy is becoming increasingly open to the world economy. Much of what Americans consume or buy is produced in other countries. Similarly, much of what Americans produce is exported abroad. Huge quantities of capital or money flow into and out of the United States every day, swamping the value of goods and services that are exchanged. New technologies and business practices accompany the flows of investment capital. A growing number of the largest U.S. companies rely on international markets for over 50% of their sales and employ more foreign than domestic workers. In the process, today's global economy, or what many call globalization, is having a growing impact on the economic futures of American companies, workers, and families. Economic theory holds that a more open and integrated world economy provides large scale economic benefits. By providing for specialization in production across countries, trade enhances the economic output here and abroad, and in so doing, boost living standards. Competition from economic integration is seen as making the U.S. economy more efficient and more productive. Global markets give consumers more choices and help reduce the costs of goods and services, thereby keeping inflation in check. The Peterson Institute for International Economics has estimated that the integration of the global economy generates an economic gain of between $500 billion and $1 trillion dollars to the U.S. economy each year. Similarly, gains from globalization have been large for many developing countries, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in countries such as China and India. At the same time, greater global economic integration accompanied by rapid technological change does not always benefit everyone within a country. It can be accompanied by stress and anxiety, as new competitors arise and compete for market share. Shifts in the structure of production impose costs on workers and business owners in declining sectors, and thus, create a constituency that opposes the process of economic integration. Opposition may be intensified by perceptions that foreign competitors benefit from unfair trade practices. Furthermore, rising trade with low-wage developing countries may drive down the wages of domestic low-skilled workers—even as they benefit from cheap imports—and prompt them to wonder whether the United States can continue to compete in a vastly changed world economy. Increased economic openness and interdependence may also engender opposition as some groups benefit more than others from globalization, leading some to question whether the global economy is structured to help the few or the many. In addition, these changes often bring high-skilled workers greater wage and income rewards than low-skilled ones. On balance, today's integrated global economy provides substantial net benefits, but it also creates substantial economic losses that are borne by specific groups. While the U.S. economy as a whole benefits, some workers, firms, and communities are made worse off. Even as new technologies create new jobs and lead to greater productivity and output overall, many Americans worry that their losses will outweigh their gains, and, as a consequence, they and their children will face a stagnant or declining standard of living. Widespread insecurity, in turn, may affect how Members of Congress view globalization generally and specifically, its most visible manifestation—new trade agreements. Moreover, popular insecurity has in the past raised concerns that the process of economic integration will be interrupted or reversed. Some congressional opposition to selective efforts to expand world commerce has been linked, in part, to public unease over globalization's impact on U.S. economic security and prosperity. For example, in 2007 the House Democratic leadership stated that the benefits of globalization must be expanded to all Americans first before Congress would consider President Bush's request to extend his authority to negotiate new trade agreements that would receive expedited consideration, that is trade promotion or fast-track authority. Similar concerns may also partially explain why it took four years before Congress took up consideration of free trade agreements with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea that had been negotiated by the Bush Administration. To bolster public support for an open world economy, conventional wisdom suggests that the legitimate concerns of those who are adversely affected by the contemporary economic environment need to be addressed. Yet, compared to the benefits of globalization, U.S. programs geared towards helping those workers displaced by globalizing trends have been quite modest. To what extent adversely affected workers should be helped to adjust to the changes associated with globalization and how, however, is a matter of considerable congressional and public debate. Currently, approaches affecting adjustment assistance, education, tax, and trade policies are most commonly being put forth to address these concerns. The costs and whether the programs will directly address economic insecurities are some of the questions being raised. Economic integration of widely separated regions is hardly a new phenomenon. It has been going on for hundreds of years. The current wave of globalization, which may be unprecedented in terms of its scale and pace, is supported by three broad trends. The first is technology, which has sharply reduced the cost of communication and transportation that previously divided markets. The second is a dramatic increase in the world supply of labor engaged in international trade. The third is government policies which have reduced barriers to trade and investment. A growing body of research examines whether these trends are combining to create new vulnerabilities for workers. In the current phase of globalization, economic distances have shrunk because of the increasing ability to communicate nearly instantaneously at costs that continue to decline. These advances in communication have allowed firms to break up the production process into discrete steps and to produce goods in whatever location allows them to minimize costs. As a result, modern products ranging from cell phones to chain saws are assembled from hundreds of components that are procured from many different countries around the world. The information technology revolution also facilitates international trade in a wider range of services, from call center operations to sophisticated financial, legal, medical, and engineering services. In the process, more jobs in the U.S. labor force become increasingly vulnerable to international competition. Technology originating in advanced countries now flows more easily across borders via foreign direct investment (FDI). The rapid absorption of technology in developing countries raises the opportunity for raising productivity. In turn, increased trade and competition from developing countries induces advanced countries to adopt new technologies that save on unskilled labor. The integration of Brazil, Russia, India, and China into the world economy over the past two decades means that the greater part of the earth's population is now engaged in the global economy. The addition of several billion new workers to the global supply of labor (an estimated 50% increase), combined with the lessening of time and distance by the information technology revolution, creates a more competitive environment for workers in the United States and other developed countries. Integrating the economies of poor and rich countries means that workers in rich countries are often now in direct competition with workers in emerging market economies who may on average be paid substantially less, yet are still highly educated. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that in 2008 Chinese manufacturing worker earned on average one-twentieth the wages of a Chinese manufacturing worker and a Mexican one-sixth. Not only does this integration increase fears of job loss among workers in rich countries, but it leads to concerns that employers will have to lower their wages and benefits in order to compete. Government policy has played a critical role in supporting or at least permitting global economic integration to proceed. Over the past 60 years, government restrictions on trade and capital flows have gradually declined, making it easier for companies to act as global players. By providing an institution in which all members are on a roughly equal footing, the World Trade Organization (WTO) greatly facilitated the inclusion of several billion new workers in the global system. The WTO also has developed rules and disciplines that make it easier for companies to move production to low-wage countries with more business-friendly regulations. In addition, agreements such as NAFTA have provided an additional spur to economic integration between a low-wage (e.g. Mexican) economy and the high-wage U.S. economy. In the decade prior to the 2008-2009 recession and global financial crisis, there was little question that by some measures—economic growth, productivity growth, and low inflation - the U.S. economy had performed well. For most Americans, this translated into absolute increases in living standards as measured by gains in real consumption and real disposable incomes. A growing engagement with the world economy was an important factor facilitating a robust overall economic performance. However, these positive developments coincided with changing employment patterns caused by increased foreign competition, a declining wage share of national income, and rising earnings inequality. Whether these trends may be contributing to declining public support for U.S. engagement with the world economy and for additional trade agreements remains to be seen. Much of the public anxiety about the economy and globalization may be related to job losses in the manufacturing sector and fears that many service sector jobs, previously thought immune to the pressures of the global economy, are being outsourced to other countries. Some critics of globalization maintain that America's manufacturing base is being eroded and the longstanding belief that America's economic future rests increasingly in the creation of high-paid service sector jobs is being jeopardized. While some of these job fears rest on misconceptions, others reflect problems that may require new or different policy responses. A main anxiety about the U.S. manufacturing base stems from a sharp drop in U.S. manufacturing employment. The total number of manufacturing jobs fell by 2.1 million, from 15.8 million in November 2001 (the trough of the latest recession) to 13.7 million in December 2007, just prior the onset of the 2008-2009 recession. As of mid-2011, another 1.9 million jobs had been lost, with total manufacturing employment standing at 11.7 million. Despite a growing economy and near full-employment prior to the 2008 recession, many of those who lost jobs found it more difficult to secure new employment or had to accept lower paying jobs in order to become reemployed.