workers displaced from employment in commuting zones most exposed to the china trade shock have found reemployment relatively slowly with knockon effects on other segments of the local labour market the spatial correlation between exportrelated job gains and import job losses declined over time feenstra ma and xu suggesting it become harder for displaced workers to find new employment opportunities the adjustment frictions to reallocation have played a role in creating localised pockets of unemployment and ultimately when persistent to heightened inequality however more recent empirical evidence suggests that workers in industries exposed to import competition suffered significant losses in earning capacity subsequently in comparison with similar workers in other industries autor etal