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I don't think the first statement is a valid argument. One could instead note the number of jobs offshored between 1994 and 2012, and see that the unemployment rate has increased from 6.6% to 8.3%.

That's not to say the original comment is correct either. It's just that there seems to be many more variables that just one in what determines the unemployment rate.

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Yes, I guess that's the better point - I don't think there's strong evidence to tie offshoring to unemployment either way. But regarding the 1994-2012 claim, I feel like that's the claim a lot of people are implictly making, since unemployment is high now and they are blaming offshored jobs for it, which is why I respond that it didn't seem to increase unemployment from 1994-2007, so why should even less offshoring be responsible for the 2007-2012 increase? (I suppose you could say there were other factors offsetting the offshoring earlier that weren't later, but I don't feel like people are making that nuanced of a claim)

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