Hedge Fund sees job link to Donald Trump win

Working class people from the Rust Belt played a large part in getting Donald Trump elected earlier this week. These same types of people also played a role in voting the UK out of the EU. Trump’s campaign targeted people in once booming manufacturing towns who felt the punch of globalisation as jobs moved overseas.

The Brexit campaign had similar success on areas of Britain. The chart (right) from the $150-billion Bridgewater, the world’s biggest hedge fund, shows just how hard people across the US and Europe have been hit by globalisation, and the loss of jobs to other countries and to technology.

Which populations voted for Trump? White men, typically over 45, typically without a college degree, who believe the economy is in bad shape and that the effect of foreign trade is to take jobs away from America. In the UK, it is a similar story. Brexit voters were typically 45 and over and didn’t stay in education beyond high school.

These are individuals who may have may have found their way to a middle-skill, technical role, may have been replaced by overseas labour.