Jul. 31--DURHAM -- Workers with high school degrees or less and workers with four-year college degrees and above are more at risk of losing their jobs because of competition from China than community college graduates, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute.

The study by economist Robert Scott estimates that the national trade gap with China displaced 2.3 million American workers between 2007 and 2001, the year China entered the World Trade Organization.

In North Carolina alone, the state lost a net of 79,800 jobs to China during that time, with every nonfarm economic sector shedding jobs. The greatest drops occurred in manufacturing and professional/scientific/technical services, and the state lost more jobs than all but seven states, according to the study's results.

California, with 325,800 jobs lost, sustained the heaviest impact. Texas, New York, Illinois and Ohio rounded off the top five.

"The problem with China is the trade imbalance, that we are importing now so much more than we are exporting. And we have that because the Chinese government will put in place policies -- whether that's holding down labor rights or subsidies or manipulating the value of their currency -- that gives them an unfair advantage," said John Quinterno, a research associate with the N.C. Justice Center, which released the results of the study on Tuesday.

In North Carolina, the textiles and fabrics part of the manufacturing sector sustained the heaviest losses, with a net loss of 14,336 jobs 2001-07. Education services had the fewest cuts, at 166 jobs lost, while the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector was the only one that gained jobs -- and then, only with 291 gains in those six years.

Manufacturing posted the largest drop in absolute terms, at minus 59,867. Next to manufacturing, the most-impacted sector was professional/scientific/technical services, with a net loss of 3,343 jobs.

As a result, workers with a high school degree or less have been hit particularly hard by the rising trade deficit.

According to the study, manufacturing provides more good jobs for workers with a high school degree or less than did other sectors of the economy as a whole, making them particularly vulnerable to jobs lost to China.

In addition, the computer and electronic products sector lost 561,000 jobs nationwide, or 24.4 percent of all jobs lost because of the trade deficit. The sector employs more college graduates than manufacturing or the economy as a whole. Community college graduates have fared better.