Trade deflates in its role of employer, according to the IMF and the WTO

Global trade is the cause of unemployment in some sectors and countries, but this can be mitigated by investing in education, labor market flexibility, and social policies, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

This is the thesis behind a report of these three institutions in favor of the economic globalization, presented by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde in Berlin; WB President Jim Yong Kim and WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo.

“Not everyone has benefited from trade,” Lagarde acknowledged, after advocating the aggregate benefits of cross-border exchange of goods and services.

Kim said that “the pain is real” and defended that, “with the right policies,” the trade “can help the people who are left behind.”