In the relatively competitive U.S. economy, most estimates put the cost of the "voluntary export restraints" (VERs) imposed by President Reagan on Japanese automakers, aimed at protecting U.S. autoworker jobs against Japanese competition, at US$250,000/year/worker in increased prices. This sum is about 1.7 times the cost of the wages and fringe benefits of the most highly paid workers, and about 3 times the cost of wages and fringe benefits of the mostly young, low-tenured workers whose jobs were most at risk.