Idaho: Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment

Exports Support Jobs for Idaho's Workers

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 4.8 percent of Idaho's total private-sector employment. Nearly one-seventh (14.1 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Idaho depend on exports for their jobs. (2005 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 2005 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: 2003.

Source: State Export-Related Employment Project, International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census.

Back to top of Idaho report

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.

Back to top of Idaho report

Foreign Investment Creates Jobs in Idaho

In 2005, foreign-controlled companies employed 12,200 workers in Idaho. Major sources of Idaho's foreign investment in 2005 were France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Germany.

Of these jobs in Idaho, over one-quarter (27 percent, or 3,300 workers) were in the manufacturing sector in 2005.

Foreign-controlled companies employed 5.2 percent of manufacturing workers in Idaho in 2005.

Foreign investment in Idaho was responsible for 2.3 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2005.

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 Idaho report

Idaho Depends on World Markets

Idaho's export shipments of merchandise in 2007 totaled $4.7 billion, up 124 percent from $2.1 billion in 2003, the fifth highest percentage change among the 50 states.

Idaho exported to 157 foreign destinations in 2007. The state's largest export market is Singapore. Idaho exported $1.1 billion worth of merchandise to Singapore in 2007, which was almost one-fourth (23 percent) of the state total for that year. Singapore was followed by China ($723 million), Canada ($606 million), Japan ($325 million) and the Philippines ($319 million).

The state's leading export category by far is computers and electronic equipment, which accounted for 70 percent, or $3.3 billion, of Idaho's total merchandise exports in 2007. Other top manufactured exports that year were processed foods ($360 million), paper products ($176 million), and machinery manufactures ($154 million).

Source: 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 Idaho report

Idaho's Metropolitan Exports

In 2006, the metropolitan area of Boise City-Nampa exported $3.0 billion in merchandise, 80 percent of Idaho's total merchandise exports. Other major metropolitan areas in Idaho that exported in 2006 included Idaho Falls ($168 million), Pocatello ($165 million), and Coeur d'Alene ($60 million). Another metropolitan area exporter that included some counties of Idaho was Logan (including some counties in Utah as well) which exported $162 million in merchandise in 2006.

Source: Metropolitan Export Series, Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division.

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 Idaho report