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Nebraska: Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment

September 2008

Exports Support Jobs for Nebraska's Workers
Exports Sustain More Than a Thousand Nebraska Businesses
Foreign Investment Benefits Nebraska
Nebraska Depends on World Markets
Nebraska's Metropolitan Exports

Exports Support Jobs for Nebraska's Workers

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 5.4 percent of Nebraska's total private-sector employment. Over one-eighth (12.9 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Nebraska depend on exports for their jobs. (2006 data are the latest available.)

Note: Export-related employment data shown do not include manufacturing and non-manufacturing jobs involved in the export of non-manufactured goods, such as farm products, minerals, and services sold to foreign buyers. Indirect exports exclude imported items. The complete 2006 export-related employment series is available on our Export Related Jobs pages. Additional information on methodology used in the export-related employment series can be found in the U.S. Census Bureau's publication Exports from Manufacturing Establishments: 2006.

Source: State Export-Related Employment Project, International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census.

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Exports Sustain More Than a Thousand Nebraska Businesses

A total of 1,127 companies exported goods from Nebraska locations in 2006. Of those, 889, or 79 percent, were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with fewer than 500 employees.

SMEs generated 29 percent of Nebraska's total exports of merchandise in 2006.

Source: International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division: Exporter Database.

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Foreign Investment Creates Jobs in Nebraska

In 2006, foreign-controlled companies employed 18,700 workers in Nebraska. Major sources of Nebraska's foreign investment in 2006 were Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and Switzerland.

Nearly one-half (47 percent) of these jobs, or 8,700 workers, were in the manufacturing sector in 2006.

Foreign-controlled companies accounted for 8.5 percent of total manufacturing employment in Nebraska in 2006.

Foreign investment in Nebraska was responsible for 2.4 percent of the state’s total private-industry employment in 2006.

Note: All figures exclude employment in banks affiliated with foreign companies.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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Nebraska Depends on World Markets

Nebraska's export shipments of merchandise in 2007 totaled $4.3 billion, up $1.6 billion (57 percent) since 2003.

Nebraska exported to 176 foreign destinations in 2007. The state's largest market in 2007 was NAFTA member Canada, which received goods exports of $1.2 billion (29 percent of Nebraska's total exports that year). Canada was followed by NAFTA member Mexico ($900 million), Japan ($270 million), China ($190 million) and the Netherlands ($136 million).

Nebraska's leading manufactured export category is processed foods, which alone accounted for $1.1 billion, or 26 percent of Nebraska's total export shipments in 2007. Other top manufactured exports that year included machinery manufactures ($661 million), transportation equipment ($498 million), and chemical manufactures ($375 million).

Source: Revised Origin of Movement State Export Series, Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division.

Caution: The Origin of Movement series allocates exports to states based on transportation origin, i.e., the state from which goods began their journey to the port (or other point) of exit from the United States. The transportation origin of exports is not always the same as the location where the goods were produced. Consequently, conclusions about "export production" in a state should not be made solely on the basis of the Origin of Movement state export figures.

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Nebraska's Metropolitan Exports

In the first half of 2007, the metropolitan area of Lincoln exported $337 million in merchandise, 18 percent of Nebraska's total merchandise exports. Two major metropolitan area exporters include some counties in Nebraska. Omaha-Council Bluffs (including some parts of Iowa) exported $888 million, while Sioux City (including some parts of Iowa and South Dakota) exported $307 million in merchandise in the first half of 2007.

Source: International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division: Metropolitan Export Series.

Caution: The Origin of Movement zip-based series allocates exports to metropolitan areas based on transportation origin, i.e., the metropolitan area from which goods began their journey to the port (or other point) of exit from the United States. The transportation origin of exports is not always the same as the location where the goods were produced. Consequently, conclusions about "export production" in a metropolitan area should not be made solely on the basis of the Origin of Movement zip-based export figures.

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Prepared by the Office of Trade and Industry Information, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.
Data updated 16 September 2008. Click here to return to the list of all the state "Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment" reports.

 

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