New York: Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment

Exports Support Jobs for New York's Workers

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 2.9 percent of New York's total private-sector employment. Nearly one-fifth (19.1 percent) of all manufacturing workers in New York 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.

Back to top of New York report

Exports Sustain Thousands of New York Businesses

A total of 25,281 companies exported goods from New York locations in 2006, the third highest number among the 50 states. Of those, 94 percent, or 23,688 firms, were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with fewer than 500 employees.

SMEs generated more than half (52 percent) of New York's total exports of merchandise in 2006. That is the third highest percentage among the 50 states and well above the national average of 29 percent.

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

Back to top of New York report

Foreign Investment Creates Jobs in New York

In 2006, foreign-controlled companies employed 389,300 workers in New York. This was the second largest total among the 50 states (only California was greater). Major sources of New York's foreign investment in 2006 were the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Over one-eighth of these jobs (14 percent, or 53,500 workers) were in the manufacturing sector in 2006.

Foreign-controlled firms accounted for 9.3 percent of total manufacturing employment in New York in 2006.

Foreign investment in New York was responsible for 5.3 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.

Back to top of New York report

New York Depends on World Markets

New York's export shipments of merchandise in 2007 totaled $71.1 billion. New York was the third largest exporter among the 50 states in 2007.

New York's exports to the world increased by $31.0 billion from 2003 to 2007, the third largest dollar increase among the 50 states.

New York exported to 218 foreign destinations in 2007. The state's largest market in 2007 was NAFTA member Canada, to which New York exported goods worth $15.0 billion. This was 21 percent of the state's total exports that year. Canada was followed by the United Kingdom ($6.0 billion), Switzerland ($5.9 billion), Israel ($4.9 billion), and Hong Kong ($3.4 billion).

New York's leading manufactured export category is miscellaneous manufactures, which alone accounted for $14.8 billion, or 21 percent of the state's total export shipments in 2007. Other top manufactured exports from New York are computers and electronic products ($7.6 billion in 2007 exports), primary metal manufactures ($7.4 billion), and machinery manufactures ($6.8 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.

Back to top of New York report

New York's Metropolitan Exports

In the first half of 2007, the metropolitan area of Rochester exported $2.5 billion in merchandise, 7 percent of New York's total merchandise exports. Other major metropolitan areas in New York that exported in the first half of 2007 included Buffalo-Niagara Falls ($2.5 billion), Albany-Schenectady-Troy ($1.6 billion), Syracuse ($1.0 billion), and Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown ($951 million). Another metropolitan area exporter that included some counties of New York was New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (including some counties in New Jersey and Pennsylvania as well) which exported $39.7 billion in merchandise in the first half of 2007, the highest export value of any metropolitan area in the U.S.

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.

Back to top of New York report