Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

Summary Estimates for Multinational Companies: Employment, Sales, and Capital Expenditures for 2005 [19 April 2007] http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/mnc/mncnewsrelease.htm or http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/mnc/2007/pdf/mnc2005.pdf [full-text, 8 pages] or http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/mnc/2007/xls/mnc2005.xls [spreadsheet]

U.S. multinational companies (MNCs) employed 30.5 million workers worldwide in 2005, of which 21.5 million were employed in the United States by U.S. parent companies and 9.1 million were employed abroad by their majority-owned foreign affiliates. The employment in the United States by U.S. parents accounted for almost one-fifth of total U.S. employment in private industries. Worldwide capital expenditures by U.S. MNCs totaled $478.1 billion; capital expenditures in the United States by U.S. parents accounted for $340.8 billion and capital expenditures abroad by majority-owned foreign affiliates accounted for $137.3 billion. Sales by U.S. parent companies totaled $7,606.1 billion, and those by majority-owned foreign affiliates totaled $3,761.9 billion.

Majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign MNCs employed 5.1 million workers in 2005, accounting for 4.5 percent of total U.S. employment in private industries. Capital expenditures by these affiliates totaled $120.9 billion and their sales totaled $2,507.6 billion.

Worldwide employment by U.S. MNCs increased 1.8 percent in 2005, following a 2.2-percent increase in 2004. Employment in the United States by U.S. parent companies increased 1.1 percent, following a 0.6-percent increase. Employment abroad by the majority-owned foreign affiliates of U.S. MNCs increased 3.6 percent, following a 6.1-percent increase. Employment in the United States by majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign MNCs decreased 0.7 percent in 2005, following a 2.0-percent decrease in 2004.

Worldwide capital expenditures of U.S. MNCs increased 15.2 percent in 2005, following a decrease of 2.4 percent in 2004. The increase reflected a 15.3-percent increase in capital spending in the United States by U.S. parent companies, following a decrease of 6.3 percent; capital spending abroad by majority-owned foreign affiliates increased 14.9 percent, following a 9.0-percent increase. For majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign MNCs, capital expenditures increased 7.1 percent in 2005, following a 3.5-percent increase in 2004.

Sales by U.S. parent companies increased 8.7 percent, following a 6.9-percent increase in 2004, and sales by majority-owned foreign affiliates increased 14.4 percent, following a 14.8-percent increase. Sales by majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign MNCs increased 8.8 percent, following an increase of 8.6 percent.

Employment in the United States by U.S. parent companies accounted for 70 percent of the worldwide employment of U.S. MNCs in 2005, down from 71 percent in 2004. The U.S.-parent share of the worldwide capital expenditures of U.S. MNCs in 2005 was 71 percent, the same share as in 2004.

The U.S.-parent share of MNC activity can change for a number of reasons, and the changes do not uniformly correspond to either additions to, or subtractions from, employment and capital expenditures in the United States. Examples of factors other than production shifting that might be associated with a change in the parent and affiliate shares of MNC activity include different rates of economic growth in the United States and in specific markets where investment is occurring abroad, or the creation of new market opportunities abroad that cannot be served by exports from the United States. Additional discussion of data and analytical considerations may be found in "A Note on Patterns of Production and Employment by U.S. Multinational Companies," in the March 2004 issue of the Survey of Current Business.

Revisions.--The MNC estimates for 2004 presented in this release supercede preliminary estimates that were released in the second half of 2006. For U.S. parent companies, the estimates of employment were revised down 0.6 percent, the estimates of capital expenditures were revised down 4.3 percent, and the estimates of sales were revised up 0.7 percent. For majority-owned foreign affiliates, the estimates of employment were revised up 1.5 percent, the estimates of capital expenditures were revised down 2.9 percent, and the estimates of sales were revised up 1.5 percent. For majority-owned U.S. affiliates of foreign MNCs, the estimates of employment were revised up 0.5 percent, the estimates of capital expenditures were revised up 4.4 percent, and the estimates of sales were revised up 0.1 percent. The upward revision for capital expenditures by majority-owned U.S. affiliates was largely due to late reports for newly acquired affiliates, including companies in automotive equipment rental and leasing (see definition of capital expenditures in the technical note).

AND MORE...including TABLES... ______________________________

**************************************** Stuart Basefsky Director, IWS News Bureau Institute for Workplace Studies Cornell/ILR School 16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor New York, NY 10016

Telephone: (607) 255-2703 Fax: (607) 255-9641 E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu ****************************************