Ohio: Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment

Exports Support Jobs for Ohio Workers

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 6.7 percent of Ohio's total private-sector employment. Nearly one-quarter (23.1 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Ohio 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 Thousands of Ohio Businesses

A total of 11,371 companies exported from Ohio locations in 2006. Of these, 88 percent (10,024 firms) were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with fewer than 500 employees.

SMEs generated over one-fifth (23 percent) of Ohio'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 Ohio

In 2006, foreign-controlled companies employed 213,300 workers in Ohio, the eighth largest total among the 50 states. Major sources of Ohio's jobs in 2006 included Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Switzerland.

Over two-fifths of these jobs (43 percent, or 91,700 workers) were in the manufacturing sector in 2006. Foreign-controlled companies accounted for 11.5 percent of total manufacturing employment in Ohio in 2006 (more than one of every nine manufacturing workers).

Foreign investment in Ohio was responsible for 4.5 percent of the state’s private-sector 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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Ohio Depends on World Markets

Ohio's export shipments of merchandise in 2007 totaled $42.6 billion, up 43 percent ($12.8 billion) from 2003. Ohio recorded the eighth largest export total of all 50 states in 2007.

Ohio's increase in exports of $12.8 billion from 2003 to 2007 was the ninth largest among the 50 states.

Ohio exported globally to 213 foreign destinations in 2007. The state's largest market in 2007, by far, was our NAFTA trading partner Canada, which received goods exports of $19.8 billion. This was nearly half (47 percent) of Ohio's total exports that year. Ohio's second-largest market was our other NAFTA partner Mexico ($3.0 billion), followed by Japan ($1.5 billion), China ($1.5 billion), and the United Kingdom ($1.4 billion).

Ohio's leading manufactured export category in 2007 was transportation equipment, which accounted for $15.5 billion, or 36 percent of Ohio's total export shipments. Other top manufactured export categories that year were machinery manufactures ($5.6 billion), chemical manufactures ($4.6 billion), and computers and electronic products ($2.9 billion).

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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Ohio's Metropolitan Exports

In the first half of 2007, the metropolitan area of Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor exported $4.3 billion in merchandise, 20 percent of Ohio's total merchandise exports. Other major metropolitan areas in Ohio that exported in the first half of 2007 included Dayton ($2.0 billion), Akron ($1.9 billion), Columbus ($1.7 billion), Toledo ($1.0 billion), and Canton-Massillon ($745 million). Two major metropolitan area exporters in Ohio included some counties from neighboring states. Cincinnati-Middletown (including some parts of Kentucky and Indiana) exported $7.3 billion, while Youngstown-Warren-Boardman (including some parts of Pennsylvania) exported $729 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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