In the two years that followed the last U.S. economic contraction in 2001, nearly 3 million jobs were lost. Growth picked up in 2002 and 2003 despite outsourcing of work to other parts of the world, but dramatic structural change internationally was already underway. Four-and-a-half years of month-to-month employment increases through the end of last year have helped to distract attention from some major shifts and alterations that have come about with respect to the United States vis-à-vis the rest of the world.

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