Idaho: Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment

Exports Support Jobs for Idaho's Workers

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 4.6 percent of Idaho's total private-sector employment. Nearly one-fifth (18.6 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Idaho 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 Over a Thousand Idaho Businesses

A total of 1,014 companies exported from Idaho locations in 2006. Eighty-eight percent of these companies (889), or more than four-fifths, were small and medium-sized enterprises, with fewer than 500 employees.

Small and medium-sized firms generated over one-quarter (26 percent) of Idaho'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 Idaho

In 2006, foreign-controlled companies employed 13,000 workers in Idaho. Major sources of Idaho's foreign investment in 2006 were the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, and Germany.

Of these jobs in Idaho, over one-quarter (28 percent, or 3,700 workers) were in the manufacturing sector in 2006.

Foreign-controlled companies employed 5.6 percent of manufacturing workers in Idaho in 2006.

Foreign investment in Idaho 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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Idaho Depends on World Markets

Idaho's export shipments of merchandise in 2008 totaled $5.0 billion, up 71 percent from $2.9 billion in 2004.

The state's largest export market is Singapore. Idaho exported $1.3 billion worth of merchandise to Singapore in 2008, which was over one-fourth (26 percent) of the state total for that year. Singapore was followed by Canada ($934 million), China ($394 million), Taiwan ($347 million) and Japan ($261 million).

The state's leading export category by far is computers and electronic equipment, which accounted for 59 percent, or $2.9 billion, of Idaho's total merchandise exports in 2008. Other top manufactured exports that year were processed foods ($465 million), chemicals ($262 million), and paper ($231 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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Idaho's Metropolitan Exports

In 2007, the metropolitan area of Boise City-Nampa exported $3.9 billion in merchandise, 82 percent of Idaho's total merchandise exports. Other major metropolitan areas in Idaho that exported in 2007 included Idaho Falls ($165 million), Pocatello ($151 million), and Coeur d'Alene ($72 million). Another metropolitan area exporter that included some counties of Idaho was Logan (including some counties in Utah as well) which exported $174 million in merchandise in 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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