Tennessee: Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment

Exports Support Jobs for Tennessee's Workers

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 5.6 percent of Tennessee's total private-sector employment. More than one-seventh (14.9 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Tennessee 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.

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Exports Sustain Thousands of Tennessee Businesses

A total of 4,295 companies exported goods from Tennessee locations in 2006. Of those, 3,446 (80 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with fewer than 500 employees.

SMEs generated 14 percent of Tennessee'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 Tennessee

In 2005, foreign-controlled companies employed 125,900 workers in Tennessee. Major sources of Tennessee's jobs in 2005 were Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.

More than half of these foreign-investment-supported jobs (54 percent, or 67,600 workers) were in the manufacturing sector in 2005.

Foreign-controlled companies accounted for 16.4 percent, almost one-sixth, of total manufacturing employment in Tennessee in 2005.

Foreign investment in Tennessee was responsible for 5.2 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.

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Tennessee Depends on World Markets

Tennessee's export shipments of merchandise in 2007 totaled $21.8 billion, the 16th largest figure among the states. Tennessee's export shipments grew 73 percent from 2003 to 2007. By comparison, the total U.S. growth in merchandise exports over this period was 61 percent.

Tennessee exported to 205 foreign destinations in 2007. The state's largest export market, by far, was our NAFTA trading partner Canada. Tennessee exported $6.7 billion worth of merchandise to the Canadian market in 2007, nearly one-third (31 percent) of the state's export total that year. Canada was followed by NAFTA market Mexico (2007 exports of $2.4 billion), China ($1.1 billion), the United Kingdom ($887 million), and Japan ($817 billion).

Among manufactured products, Tennessee's leading export category is transportation equipment. Transportation equipment accounted for $4.1 billion (19 percent) of Tennessee's total merchandise exports in 2007. Tennessee's other top 2007 manufactured exports were computers and electronic products ($3.3 billion), chemical manufactures ($3.2 billion), and miscellaneous manufactures ($2.3 billion).

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.

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Tennessee's Metropolitan Exports

In 2006, the metropolitan area of Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro exported $5.4 billion in merchandise, 26 percent of Tennessee's total merchandise exports. Another major metropolitan area in Tennessee that exported in 2006 was Knoxville ($2.0 billion). Three major metropolitan area exporters included some counties in Tennessee. Memphis (including some parts of Missouri and Arkansas) exported $7.1 billion, while Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol (including some parts of Virginia) exported $2.2 billion, and Chattanooga (including some parts of Georgia) exported $710 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.

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