Foreign-owned U.S. affiliates directly employ 5.6 million workers, according to recent research by Brookings.
While the number and share of U.S. workers employed in foreign owned enterprises (FOEs) increased steadily through the 1990s before peaking in 2000 and then stagnating, FDI supports 5.5% of private employment in the average large metro area.
Fully 74% of all jobs in FOEs are concentrated in the country’s 100 largest metro areas by population, compared to 68% of total private employment.
Jobs in FOEs are relatively concentrated in manufacturing and advanced industries; however they have become more services-oriented over time.
In 2011, FDI employed 18.5% of U.S. manufacturing workers and FOEs employed 1.4 million U.S. workers in the nation’s technology- and skill-intensive advanced industries. However, the share of jobs in FOEs in services has increased over time as manufacturing’s share of jobs in FOEs fell.
The average large metro area contains FDI from 33 different countries and 77 different city-regions worldwide; Despite this diversity, in 2011 companies based in the 10 top countries and city-regions accounted for 75% and 46% of all jobs in FOEs, respectively. In total, companies from 445 different city-regions spread across 115 different countries have direct investments in the United States.
