https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/01/business/economy/port-dockworkers-strike-economy.html
How the Dockworkers’ Strike Could Ripple Through the Economy
Transportation and warehousing sectors are poised to first feel the pinch, with a broader economic fallout expected if the strike drags on.
By Danielle Kaye, The New York Times, Oct. 1, 2024
As dockworkers at East and Gulf Coast ports walk off the job, economists are bracing for the strike to reverberate across the American economy.
The strike, a result of a monthslong impasse between the union representing roughly 45,000 longshoremen and port operators, began on Tuesday. It will halt almost all activity at some of the busiest ports in the United States, from Maine to Texas. The International Longshoremen’s Association is pushing for wage increases that exceed those offered by the United States Maritime Alliance, the port operators group…
A strike could cost the economy $4.5 billion to $7.5 billion, or a 0.1 percent hit to U.S. annualized gross domestic product, every week as truckers and other workers dependent on the ports are furloughed and manufacturers experience delivery delays, according to analysts at Oxford Economics. While those losses would be reversed once the strike was over, it would take a month to clear the backlog for each week of the strike, the analysts estimated…
Dozens of commodities — including bananas and European alcohol, nonperishable products such as car parts and furniture, and raw materials like cotton and wood — are imported through the East and Gulf Coast ports, and suppliers of those would most likely experience the most direct hit…
A rapid acceleration in inflation, reminiscent of pressures in 2021 and 2022, is an unlikely result of the strike… [end quote]
The strike won’t impact the great majority of consumer goods that are imported from Asia to the west coast. Also, importers have been preparing for the expected strike by diverting goods from the east to the west coast ports.
The strike is unlikely to increase inflation or harm the macro economy significantly.
Wendy