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 provide information for the first time for 2013 as well as updated data for 2012, 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.
Here are some highlights from the statistics:
- The current-dollar value added of majority-owned U.S. affiliates, a measure of their direct contribution to U.S. gross domestic product, totaled $835.6 billion in 2013. That’s an increase of $43.3 billion, or 5.5 percent, from 2012. Value added by affiliates rose at a faster pace than total U.S. private industry value added. As a result, affiliates’ share of U.S. private industry value added increased to 6.4 percent in 2013, from 6.3 percent in 2012.
- Affiliates with ultimate beneficial owners in seven countries— the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands —accounted for nearly three-fourths of the value added by all majority-owned U.S. affiliates in 2013.
- Majority-owned U.S. affiliates employed 6.1 million workers, rising 3.6 percent in 2013, following a 3.3 percent increase in 2012. The share of U.S. private industry employment accounted for by U.S. affiliates of foreign multinational enterprises was 5.2 percent, up from 5.1 percent in 2012.
- The states with the largest shares of total private industry employment accounted for by U.S. affiliates in 2013 were South Carolina (8.1 percent), New Hampshire (7.4 percent), and Delaware (7.1 percent).
- Exports of goods by affiliates rose by $10.5 billion, or 3 percent, and imports rose by $16.3 billion, or 2.5 percent, in 2013.
- Research and development performed by affiliates rose by $2.7 billion, or 5.4 percent, in 2013.
For more information, read the full article in the November Survey of Current Business.
In August 2015, BEA released statistics on the activities of U.S. multinational enterprises (including U.S. parent companies and their foreign affiliates).