Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are fighting to convince voters that they are the candidate that will create the most "good-paying jobs."
Trump has staked his presidential campaign on bringing jobs -- especially manufacturing jobs -- back from China, Mexico and other places overseas.
It's not going to happen, say business leaders and experts across the political spectrum.
"I'm frankly very disappointed in Mrs. Clinton, and I'm uber disappointed in Donald Trump because they talk about protecting these jobs, yet their policy solutions will destroy these jobs," Richard Fisher, the former CEO of the Dallas Federal Reserve, told CNNMoney.
Here's why Fisher says their policies just won't work:
Related: Donald Trump's big economic plan: Fix U.S. trade
Many goods made in the U.S. are sold overseas
Trump's plan to slap massive tariffs up to 45% on goods made overseas and then sold in the United States would likely cause a recession. Other countries are unlikely to send Trump a thank you note for the tariffs. Instead, they would probably retaliate, hurting sales of U.S. products around the world.
Fisher says Trump needs a reality check.
"Sixty percent of the manufactured goods in America are exported. So if you talk about protections, or you talk about not expanding free trade agreements, you're cutting off your nose to spite your face," Fisher said after an American Council on Germany dinner this week.
Even if Trump's policy managed to bring any jobs back to the U.S., Fisher says it would backfire because other manufacturing jobs supported by sales overseas would evaporate quickly.
Good-paying jobs would be lost. The National Association of Manufacturers says manufacturing work in the U.S. pays $80,000 (on average), when you include benefits. But manufacturing jobs supported by exports pay even more -- about $94,000.
Related: Clinton predicted to beat Trump...due to economics
Free trade is better for job creation
Clinton is also sounding more protectionist lately. She did a U-turn last year on the big Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal that the Obama Administration has been working on for years. Clinton was in favor of the deal, but then she came out against it.
"She's running away from the principles that bind us as a global community," says Fisher, who worked in Bill Clinton's administration as deputy U.S. trade representative.
Fisher says he's "not happy" with either choice for president and won't be serving in either administration.
Some accused Clinton of reversing her stance on TPP to win support from the unions. She was endorsed by the AFL-CIO this week.
But free trade deals have actually helped U.S. manufacturing exports. In 2015, the U.S. ran a trade surplus on manufactured goods traded with our Free Trade Agreement partners, meaning America sold more stuff abroad than it bought.
Related: 10 key facts about the U.S. economy
It's not just overseas trade hurting jobs
While a lot of attention has been focused on the fact that America has lost 5 million manufacturing jobs since 2000, trade isn't the only factor causing those jobs to go away. An even bigger factor is technology.
Putting up barriers isn't going to stop robots and machines from doing the factory jobs that people once did.
