Nevada: Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment

Exports Support Jobs for Nevada's Workers

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 1.4 percent of Nevada's total private-sector employment. One-seventh (14.4 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Nevada 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 Nevada report

Exports Sustain Thousands of Nevada Businesses

A total of 2,123 companies exported goods from Nevada locations in 2006. Of those, 1,839 (87 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with fewer than 500 employees.

SMEs generated 29 percent of Nevada's total exports of merchandise in 2006.

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

Back to top of Nevada report

Foreign Investment Creates Jobs in Nevada

In 2006, foreign-controlled companies employed 35,900 workers in Nevada. Major sources of Nevada's foreign investment in 2006 were the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan, and Switzerland.

Nearly one-sixth of these jobs (15 percent, or 5,500 workers) were in the manufacturing sector in 2006.

Foreign-controlled companies accounted for 10.8 percent of total manufacturing employment in Nevada in 2006.

Foreign investment in Nevada was responsible for 3.1 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 Nevada report

Nevada Depends on World Markets

Nevada's export shipments of merchandise in 2008 totaled $6.1 billion. Nevada's exports to the world from 2004 to 2008 increased 110 percent, the tenth largest percentage gain among the 50 states. By comparison, total U.S. merchandise exports increased 59 percent over this period.

The state's largest market in 2008 was Switzerland, which received goods exports of $2.9 billion. This was 47 percent of Nevada's total exports that year. Switzerland was followed by Canada ($939 million), China ($372 million), Japan ($254 million) and Mexico ($186 million).

Nevada's leading manufactured export category is primary metal manufactures, which alone accounted for $2.9 billion, or 48 percent of Nevada's total export shipments in 2008. Other top manufactured exports that year were computers and electronic products ($795 million in exports), miscellaneous manufactures ($714 million), and machinery manufactures ($242 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.

Back to top of Nevada report

Nevada's Metropolitan Exports

In 2007, the metropolitan area of Las Vegas-Paradise exported $1.2 billion in merchandise, 26 percent of Nevada's total merchandise exports. Other major metropolitan areas in Nevada that exported in 2007 included Reno-Sparks ($1.1 billion), and Carson City ($141 million).

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 Nevada report