News Release
Summary Estimates for Multinational Companies: Employment, Sales, and Capital Expenditures for 2004
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William Zeile: (202) 606-9893 BEA 06-14
Summary Estimates for Multinational Companies:
Employment, Sales, and Capital Expenditures for 2004
U.S. multinational companies (MNCs) employed 29.6 million workers worldwide
in 2004, of which 21.3 million were employed in the United States by U.S. parent
companies and 8.3 million were employed abroad by majority-owned foreign affiliates.
The employment in the United States by U.S. parents accounted for about one-fifth of
total U.S. employment in private industries. Worldwide capital expenditures by U.S.
MNCs totaled $438.2 billion; capital expenditures in the United States by U.S. parents
accounted for $310.9 billion and capital expenditures abroad by majority-owned foreign
affiliates accounted for $127.3 billion. Sales by U.S. parent companies totaled $6,866.1
billion, and those by majority-owned foreign affiliates totaled $3,282.5 billion.
Majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign MNCs employed 5.1 million workers in
2004, accounting for 4.5 percent of total U.S. employment in private industries. Capital
expenditures by these affiliates totaled $107.7 billion and their sales totaled $2,301.5
billion.
Worldwide employment by U.S. MNCs edged up 0.1 percent in 2004, following a
2.7-percent decrease in 2003. The increase in 2004 was more than accounted for by a
turnaround in employment abroad by the majority-owned foreign affiliates of U.S.
MNCs: Their employment increased 1.2 percent, following a 0.7-percent decrease in
2003. Employment in the United States by U.S. parent companies decreased 0.3 percent,
following a 3.5-percent decrease. Employment by majority-owned U.S. affiliates of
foreign MNCs decreased 2.9 percent in 2004, following a 3.7-percent decrease in 2003.
Worldwide capital expenditures of U.S. MNCs increased 1.1 percent in 2004,
following a decrease of 2.2 percent in 2003. The increase reflected a 13.3-percent
increase in capital spending abroad by majority-owned foreign affiliates, following a 1.9-
percent increase; capital spending in the United States by U.S. parent companies
decreased 3.2 percent, following a decrease of 3.6 percent. For majority-owned U.S.
affiliates of foreign MNCs, capital expenditures decreased 1.9 percent in 2004, following
a 1.5-percent decrease in 2003.
For both U.S. MNCs and majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign MNCs, sales
grew more strongly in 2004. Sales by U.S. parent companies increased 5.8 percent,
following a 2.4-percent increase in 2003, and sales by majority-owned foreign affiliates
increased 15.0 percent, following a 13.4-percent increase. Sales by majority-owned U.S.
affiliates of foreign MNCs increased 8.5 percent, following an increase of 4.4 percent.
Employment in the United States by U.S. parent companies accounted for 72
percent of the worldwide employment of U.S. MNCs in 2004, the same share as in 2003.
The U.S.-parent share of the worldwide capital expenditures of U.S. MNCs in 2004 was
71 percent, compared to a share of 74 percent in 2003.
The U.S.-parent share of MNC activity can change for a number of reasons, and
the changes do not uniformly correspond to either additions to, or subtractions from,
employment and capital expenditures in the United States. Examples of factors that
might be associated with a change in the parent and affiliate shares of MNC activity
include different rates of economic growth in the United States and in specific markets
where investment is occurring abroad, the creation of new market opportunities abroad
that cannot be served by exports from the United States, and changes in the foreign-
currency value of the U.S. dollar. Additional discussion of data and analytical
considerations may be found in “A Note on Patterns of Production and Employment by
U.S. Multinational Companies,” in the March 2004 issue of the Survey of Current
Business.
Revisions.--The MNC estimates for 2003 presented in this release supercede
preliminary estimates that were released in the summer of 2005. For U.S. parent
companies, the estimates of employment were revised down 1.6 percent, the estimates of
capital expenditures were revised down 0.1 percent, and the estimates of sales were
revised down 1.8 percent. For majority-owned foreign affiliates, the estimates of
employment were revised down 2.0 percent, the estimates of capital expenditures were
revised down 2.2 percent, and the estimates of sales were revised down 1.8 percent. For
majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign MNCs, the estimates of employment were
revised down 0.6 percent, the estimates of capital expenditures were revised up 0.6
percent, and the estimates of sales were revised down 0.8 percent.
* * *
TECHNICAL NOTE
For the third consecutive year, the Bureau of Economic Analysis is releasing
advance summary estimates of employment, sales, and capital expenditures by U.S.
parent companies, by their foreign affiliates, and by U.S. affiliates of foreign MNCs.
Estimates based on more complete source data, including country and industry detail,
will be released later this year.
The estimates presented in this release were constructed from data collected by
BEA in two distinct surveys of MNC operations: (1) a survey of U.S. MNCs that covers
the operations of both U.S. parent companies and their foreign affiliates, and (2) a survey
of the operations of U.S. affiliates of foreign MNCs. Because a U.S. parent company
may itself be foreign-owned, there is some overlap between the data on U.S. parent
companies and on U.S. affiliates; thus, to avoid duplication, data on U.S. parents and
U.S. affiliates should not be added together to produce U.S. totals.
The estimates presented here pertain to nonbank U.S. parent companies and their
majority-owned nonbank foreign affiliates, and to majority-owned nonbank U.S.
affiliates of foreign MNCs. Data on all nonbank U.S. and foreign affiliates, including
affiliates that are not majority-owned, will be presented in the Survey of Current Business
later this year. The most recent data show that nonbank foreign affiliates that were not
majority-owned employed 1.5 million workers, and nonbank U.S. affiliates that were not
majority-owned employed 0.5 million workers, in 2003. Data on banks are collected
only in benchmark years. The most recent data on U.S. parents and foreign affiliates in
banking cover the benchmark-survey year 1999: These data show that U.S. bank parents
employed 1.0 million workers, and that bank and nonbank foreign affiliates of U.S. bank
parents, plus bank affiliates of U.S. nonbank parents, together employed 0.2 million
workers in 1999. (Data on U.S. parents and foreign affiliates in banking in 2004 will be
included in the presentation of final results from the 2004 benchmark survey.) The most
recent data on U.S. affiliates in banking cover the benchmark-survey year 2002: These
data show that U.S. affiliates that were banks employed 0.1 million workers in 2002. For
both U.S. bank affiliates of foreign companies and foreign bank affiliates of U.S.
companies, almost all of the employment was by majority-owned affiliates.
In addition to presenting data collected directly in its surveys of MNC operations,
BEA uses data collected on costs incurred and profits earned in production to estimate
the value added of U.S. parent companies, of majority-owned foreign affiliates, and of
majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign companies. Value added estimates indicate the
contribution of parents or affiliates to gross domestic product in the United States or in
foreign host countries. The latest estimates of the value added of U.S. parent companies
and majority-owned foreign affiliates, which cover the year 2003, are presented in "U.S.
Multinational Companies: Operations in 2003," in the July 2005 issue of the Survey of
Current Business. The latest estimates of the value added of majority-owned U.S.
affiliates of foreign companies, which also cover 2003, are presented in "U.S. Affiliates
of Foreign Companies: Operations in 2003," in the August 2005 issue of the Survey.
* * *
BEA's national, regional, international, and industry estimates, the Survey
of Current Business, and BEA news releases are available on BEA's Web site at
www.bea.gov. By visiting the site, you can also subscribe to receive free e-mail
summaries of BEA releases and announcements.
Summary BEA estimates are available on recorded messages at the time of public
release at the following telephone numbers:
(202) 606-5306 Gross domestic product
(202) 606-5303 Personal income and outlays
Table 1. Employment, Capital Expenditures, and Sales by Nonbank U.S. Multinational Companies, 1988-2004
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thousands of employees Millions of dollars
----------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------
Capital expenditures/1/ Sales/2/
U.S. U.S. Majority- ------------------------------------ --------------------
multinational parents owned U.S. U.S. Majority- U.S. Majority-
companies foreign multinational parents owned parents owned
affiliates companies foreign foreign
affiliates affiliates
1988 ...... 22,498.1 17,737.6 4,760.5 223,814 177,203 46,611 2,828,209 927,886
1989 ...... 23,879.4 18,765.4 5,114.0 260,488 201,808 58,680 3,136,837 1,019,966
1990 ...... 23,785.7 18,429.7 5,356.0 274,614 213,079 61,535 3,243,721 1,208,349
1991 ...... 23,345.4 17,958.9 5,386.5 269,221 206,290 62,931 3,252,534 1,242,635
1992 ...... 22,812.0 17,529.6 5,282.4 272,049 208,834 63,215 3,330,886 1,291,649
1993 ...... 22,760.2 17,536.9 5,223.3 271,661 207,437 64,224 3,480,778 1,275,775
1994 ...... 24,272.5 18,565.4 5,707.1 303,364 231,917 71,447 3,990,013 1,435,901
1995 ...... 24,499.7 18,576.2 5,923.5 323,616 248,017 75,599 4,235,578 1,693,836
1996 ...... 24,867.0 18,790.0 6,077.0 340,510 260,048 80,462 4,478,970 1,868,588
1997 ...... 26,357.8 19,878.0 6,479.8 398,037 309,247 88,790 4,886,330 1,972,515
1998 ...... 26,592.9 19,819.8 6,773.1 411,155 317,184 93,971 4,970,138 1,971,909
1999/3/ ... 30,772.6 23,006.8 7,765.8 483,032 369,728 113,304 5,975,478 2,218,945
2000 ...... 32,056.6 23,885.2 8,171.4 506,948 396,311 110,637 6,695,166 2,507,433
2001 ...... 30,929.2 22,735.1 8,194.1 524,215 413,457 110,758 6,800,777 2,524,459
2002 ...... 30,373.2 22,117.6 8,255.6 443,388 333,113 110,275 6,337,779 2,515,641
2003/4/ ... 29,543.3 21,346.6 8,196.7 433,640 321,247 112,394 6,489,510 2,853,826
2004/5/ ... 29,572.8 21,274.6 8,298.2 438,202 310,905 127,297 6,866,069 3,282,539
Percent change at
annual rates:
1988-2001 .. 2.5 1.9 4.3 6.8 6.7 6.9 7.0 8.0
2001-2002 .. -1.8 -2.7 0.8 -15.4 -19.4 -0.4 -6.8 -0.3
2002-2003 .. -2.7 -3.5 -0.7 -2.2 -3.6 1.9 2.4 13.4
2003-2004 .. 0.1 -0.3 1.2 1.1 -3.2 13.3 5.8 15.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Total expenditures for property, plant, and equipment.
2. An MNC-wide total for sales is not provided because transactions among and within MNCs would be duplicated.
3. Break-in-series. (See the technical note on page 121 of the December 2002 issue of the Survey of Current Business for details.)
4. These estimates update those published in the July 2005 issue of the Survey of Current Business. (Those estimates, in turn,
updated the advance summary estimates released on April 19, 2005.) Revised estimates are scheduled to be released later
this year.
5. Advance estimates. Preliminary estimates based on more complete source data are scheduled to be released later this year.
NOTES: The data presented in this table cover nonbank U.S. MNCs only. Bank parents and affiliates are not required
to report in BEA's annual surveys of the operations of U.S. MNCs. Some limited data on the operations of
bank parents and affiliates (including employment and sales) are reported in benchmark surveys of U.S. direct investment
abroad conducted by BEA every five years. The latest available benchmark-survey data for bank parents and affiliates
cover the year 1999; data for 2004 will become available late next year.
The first year of a consistent annual time series of data on the operations of both U.S. MNCs and majority-owned U.S.
affiliates of foreign MNCs is 1988; prior to that year, annual data on majority-owned U.S. affiliates was unavailable.
Table 2. U.S.-Parent Share of Selected Measures of the Operations
of Nonbank U.S. Multinational Companies
[Percent]
--------------------------------------------------------------
Employment Capital
expenditures
--------------------------------------------------------------
1988 ........... 78.8 79.2
1989 ........... 78.6 77.5
1990 ........... 77.5 77.6
1991 ........... 76.9 76.6
1992 ........... 76.8 76.8
1993 ........... 77.1 76.4
1994 ........... 76.5 76.4
1995 ........... 75.8 76.6
1996 ........... 75.6 76.4
1997 ........... 75.4 77.7
1998 ........... 74.5 77.1
1999 ........... 74.8 76.5
2000 ........... 74.5 78.2
2001 ........... 73.5 78.9
2002 ........... 72.8 75.1
2003/1/ ........ 72.3 74.1
2004/2/ ........ 71.9 71.0
---------------------------------------------------------------
1. These estimates update those published in the July 2005 issue of
the Survey of Current Business. (Those estimates, in turn, updated
the advance summary estimates released on April 19, 2005.)
Revised estimates are scheduled to be released later this year.
2. Advance estimates. Preliminary estimates based on more complete
source data are scheduled to be released later this year.
Table 3. Employment, Capital Expenditures, and Sales by Majority-Owned
Nonbank U.S. Affiliates of Foreign Companies, 1988-2004
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thousands Millions of dollars
of -------------------------------------
employees Capital Sales
Expenditures/1/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1988 ....................... 3,119.0 42,355 739,128
1989 ....................... 3,573.4 51,490 863,538
1990 ....................... 3,841.7 61,812 995,013
1991 ....................... 3,991.3 60,097 1,008,388
1992 ....................... 3,903.9 52,787 1,049,942
1993 ....................... 3,851.7 53,371 1,112,693
1994 ....................... 3,954.0 60,317 1,210,837
1995 ....................... 4,022.6 64,778 1,311,210
1996 ....................... 4,155.6 77,890 1,423,715
1997 ....................... 4,269.1 88,313 1,478,221
1998 ....................... 4,669.5 109,365 1,622,946
1999 ....................... 5,064.3 114,767 1,792,520
2000 ....................... 5,656.5 112,986 2,051,878
2001 ....................... 5,594.3 121,665 2,070,234
2002 ...................... 5,425.4 111,373 2,030,962
2003/2/ .................... 5,223.9 109,701 2,120,565
2004/3/ .................... 5,073.9 107,654 2,301,493
Percent change at
annual rates:
1988-2001 .................. 4.6 8.5 8.2
2001-2002 .................. -3.0 -8.5 -1.9
2002-2003 .................. -3.7 -1.5 4.4
2003-2004 .................. -2.9 -1.9 8.5
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Total expenditures for property, plant, and equipment.
2. These estimates update those published in the August 2005 issue of the Survey of Current Business. (Those estimates, in
turn, updated the advance summary estimates released on April 20, 2005.) Revised estimates are scheduled to be released
later this year.
3. Advance estimates. Preliminary estimates based on more complete source data are scheduled to be released later this year.
NOTES: The data presented in this table cover nonbank affiliates only. Bank affiliates are not required to report in BEA's annual
surveys of the operations of U.S. affiliates of foreign companies. Some limited data on the operations of bank affiliates (including
employment and sales) are reported in benchmark surveys conducted by BEA every five years. The latest benchmark survey
results cover the year 2002.
In contrast to the presentation in Table 1 for U.S. multinational companies (which includes data for U.S. parent companies), this
table does not include data on foreign parent companies or totals for foreign multinational companies, because they are not covered
in BEA's surveys.
