Utah: Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment

Exports Support Jobs for Utah's Workers

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 4.1 percent of Utah's total private-sector employment. Over one-seventh (14.8 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Utah 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 Utah Businesses

A total of 2,236 companies exported goods from Utah locations in 2006. Of those, 1,906 (85 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with fewer than 500 employees.

SMEs generated 20 percent of Utah'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 Utah

In 2006, foreign-controlled companies employed 34,600 workers in Utah. Major sources of Utah's jobs in 2006 were the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan.

Over one-quarter of these foreign-investment-supported jobs (28 percent, or 9,700 workers) were in the manufacturing sector in 2006. Foreign-controlled companies accounted for 7.9 percent of total manufacturing employment in Utah in 2006.

Foreign investment in Utah was responsible for 3.3 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.

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Utah Depends on World Markets

Utah's export shipments of merchandise in 2007 totaled $7.8 billion. That is a 90 percent increase over the 2003 level of $4.1 billion.

Utah exported to 184 foreign destinations in 2007. The state's largest market in 2007 was the United Kingdom, which received $2.4 billion (30 percent) of Utah's merchandise export total. The United Kingdom was followed by Canada ($947 million), Switzerland ($456 million), Japan ($416 million), and Belgium ($393 million).

Among manufactured products, the state's leading export category is primary metal manufactures, which accounted for $3.2 billion (41 percent) of Utah's total merchandise exports in 2007. Other top manufactured exports are computers and electronic products ($947 million), transportation equipment ($642 million), and chemical manufactures ($481 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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Utah's Metropolitan Exports

In the first half of 2007, the metropolitan area of Salt Lake City exported $2.5 billion in merchandise, 72 percent of Utah's total merchandise exports. Other major metropolitan areas in Utah that exported in the first half of 2007 included Provo-Orem ($408 million), and Ogden-Clearfield ($332 million). Another metropolitan area exporter that included some counties of Utah was Logan (including some counties in Idaho as well) which exported $79 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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