New statistics detailing the activities of U.S. affiliates of foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) are now available from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The statistics, which include the first information for 2014 and updated data for 2013, offer details on the finances and operations of U.S. affiliates of foreign MNEs, including their employment and compensation, sales, value added, capital expenditures, trade in goods, and expenditures for research and development.
With the release of statistics for 2014, BEA is reinstating several state-level data items that were available prior to 2008. The newly released statistics now include state-level data on the gross book value of property, plant, and equipment; commercial property; and manufacturing employment. These statistics complement the other state-level statistics BEA produces on the activities of U.S. affiliates: U.S. affiliate employment and number of affiliates by state.
Some highlights from the statistics on majority-owned U.S. affiliates (those with foreign ownership of more than 50 percent):
- The current-dollar value added of majority-owned U.S. affiliates, a measure of their direct contribution to U.S. gross domestic product, totaled $869.1 billion in 2014. That’s an increase of $26.9 billion, or 3.2 percent, from 2013. The affiliates accounted for 6.4 percent of total U.S. private industry value added in 2014 compared with 6.5 percent in 2013.
- Affiliates with ultimate beneficial owners in seven countries— the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands —accounted for nearly three-fourths of the value added by all majority-owned U.S. affiliates in 2014.
- Majority-owned U.S. affiliates employed 6.4 million workers, up 3.1 percent in 2014, following a 5.0 percent increase in 2013. These affiliates accounted for 5.2 percent of all U.S. private industry employment, the same share as in 2013.
- The states with the largest shares of total private industry employment accounted for by these affiliates in 2014 were South Carolina (8.2 percent), New Hampshire (7.6 percent), and Delaware (7.6 percent).
- Exports of goods by affiliates rose in 2014 by $29.5 billion, or 7.5 percent, and imports rose by $19.2 billion, or 2.7 percent.
- Research and development performed by affiliates rose by $2.8 billion, or 5.2 percent, in 2014.
For more information read the full article, which will be available in the August Survey of Current Business.