Foreign Owned Manufacturing Plants

Foreign Owned Manufacturing Plants

Are a Growing Share of US Production

Growth in Foreign Owned Manufacturing During the early 1990’s

Foreign investment accounted for a fourth of the growth in the number of manufacturing establishments during the period
Foreign firms accounted for 3 percent of American manufacturing establishments in 1992

Five countries (Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK) account for 75 percent of the total investment in foreign new plants

Trends have Accelerated since 1992

Foreign direct investment(FDI) in the US in 1998 exceeded $200 billion, more than the combined foreign investments made between 1990-1995.
$20 billion of the 1998 total was for investment in new facilities (not acquisitions), a figure that is nearly double the annual amount between 1995-1997.
FDI in new facilities created 12,324 new jobs in 1998
FDI continues to be a growing share of US investment in new facilities
Investment by companies from Europe & Latin America both took large jumps in 1998 while Asian investment dropped to half of 1997 levels

Developers can't Ignore the Growing Role of Foreign Owned Companies

US subsidiaries of foreign companies now:

employ 4.9 million US employees (5 percent of total US employment).
invest $15.6 billion annually in US R&D
account for 22 percent of US exports of goods and services
have grown 5 times the rate of US based companies since 1980
account for ten percent of US manufacturing workers
have increased employees by 60 percent since 1987 while US based companies have reduced employment by 1.7 percent during that time.

US Owned Companies Also are Growing Stronger Global Links

Census Bureau databases show that the number of exporting firms nationwide grew by 82 percent between 1992 and 1997
Shipments of identified exporters increased by 62 percent during that period
Over 200,000 US firms now sell globally with an equal number of wholesalers and manufacturers selling their wares internationally