Texas: Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment

Exports Support Jobs for Texas Workers

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 6.7 percent of Texas's total private-sector employment. Nearly one-fourth (22.9 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Texas 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 Texas Businesses

A total of 21,983 companies exported goods from Texas locations in 2006. Of those, 20,121 (92 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 500 employees, the fourth highest number among all 50 states.

SMEs generated over one-quarter (27 percent) of Texas' 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 Texas

In 2006, foreign-controlled companies employed 368,200 workers in Texas, the third largest total among the 50 states. Major sources of Texas' jobs in 2006 were the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Japan, and Germany.

One-fourth of these foreign-investment-supported jobs (25 percent, or 92,500 workers) were in the manufacturing sector in 2006. Foreign-controlled companies accounted for 9.9 percent, almost one in ten jobs, of total manufacturing employment in Texas in 2006.

Foreign investment in Texas was responsible for 4.3 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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Texas Depends on World Markets

Texas' export shipments of merchandise in 2008 totaled $192.1 billion, the largest figure among the 50 states. Texas' exports rose $74.7 billion from 2004 to 2008, the largest dollar gain among the states.

The state's largest market in 2008, by far, was Mexico, which received exports of $62.1 billion (32 percent) of Texas' total merchandise export total. In fact, the value of Texas' trade with Mexico alone is larger than the world trade totals of every state but California, New York and Washington. Mexico was followed by Canada ($19.2 billion), China ($8.4 billion), the Netherlands ($7.1 billion), and Brazil ($6.0 billion).

Among manufactured products, the state's leading export category is chemical manufactures, which accounted for $38.3 billion (20 percent) of Texas' total merchandise exports in 2008. Other top 2008 manufactured exports were computers and electronic products ($35.4 billion), machinery manufactures ($27.1 billion), and petroleum and coal products ($25.3 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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Texas' Metropolitan Exports

Eleven metropolitan areas in Texas exported over $1 billion in merchandise in 2007. The leading metropolitan area in exporting was Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown with $62.8 billion in merchandise exports in 2007. This area represented 48 percent of Texas' exports, and ranked as the second largest metro area exporter nationally. Other major metropolitan areas in Texas that exported in 2007 included Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ($22.1 billion), El Paso ($9.6 billion), Austin-Round Rock ($8.4 billion), Laredo ($4.7 billion), McAllen-Edinburg-Mission ($4.0 billion), San Antonio ($3.6 billion), Brownsville-Harlingen ($2.9 billion), Beaumont-Port Arthur ($1.9 billion), Corpus Christi ($1.6 billion), and Victoria ($1.3 billion).

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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