Majority-owned US affiliates of foreign multinational enterprises employed 7.86 million workers in US in 2020, down 2.8% from 2019, accounting for 6.4% of private-industry jobs; employment by MOUSAs was largest in manufacturing, retail: Dept. of Commerce

WASHINGTON , August 22, 2022 (press release) –

Majority-owned U.S. affiliates (MOUSAs) of foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) employed 7.86 million workers in the United States in 2020, a 2.8 percent decrease from 8.08 million workers in 2019, according to statistics on MOUSA operations and finances released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

MOUSAs accounted for 6.4 percent of total private-industry employment in the United States in 2020, up from 6.1 percent in 2019, as total private-industry employment fell more than MOUSA employment. By industry, employment by MOUSAs was largest in manufacturing and in retail trade. MOUSAs with ultimate owners in the United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany were the largest contributors to total MOUSA employment. (See the section "Additional Information" for definitions of MOUSAs and other terminology used in this release.)

Current-dollar value added of MOUSAs, a measure of their direct contribution to U.S. gross domestic product, decreased 7.0 percent to $1.1 trillion in 2020. MOUSAs accounted for 6.8 percent of total U.S. business-sector value added, down from 7.0 percent in 2019.

Expenditures for property, plant, and equipment by MOUSAs decreased 4.7 percent to $281.8 billion. MOUSAs accounted for 17.6 percent of total U.S. private business capital expenditures. Research and development (R&D) performed by MOUSAs increased 3.0 percent to $71.4 billion. MOUSAs accounted for 14.1 percent of total U.S. business R&D in 2019, the latest year for which all-U.S. business R&D data are available.

By state, private-industry employment accounted for by MOUSAs was highest in South Carolina (9.4 percent), Hawaii (9.4 percent), and Michigan (9.1 percent). In South Carolina and Michigan, MOUSAs in the manufacturing sector employed the most workers, while "other industries," primarily accommodation and food services, employed the most MOUSA workers in Hawaii.

Additional statistics on the activities of U.S. affiliates of foreign multinationals including sales, balance sheet and income statement items, compensation of employees, trade, and more are available on BEA's website. More industry-, country-, and state-level detail are available on the website and will be highlighted in the September Survey of Current Business.

Coronavirus (COVID–19) Impact on the 2020 Activities of U.S. Affiliates of Foreign MNEs
Most of the key indicators included in the activities of U.S affiliates of foreign MNE statistics decreased in 2020 resulting, in part, from the impact of COVID–19. The full economic effects of the COVID–19 pandemic cannot be quantified in the statistics, because the impacts are generally embedded in source data and cannot be separately identified.
Updates to the statistics

Statistics for 2019 are revised to incorporate newly available and revised source data. Preliminary statistics for 2019 were released in August 2021 and highlighted in "Activities of U.S. Affiliates of Foreign Multinational Enterprises in 2019" in the September 2021 Survey.

Table A. Updates to Statistics on 2019 Activities of U.S. Affiliates of Foreign Multinational Enterprises
[Billions of dollars, except as noted]

Next release: August 2023
Activities of U.S. Affiliates of Foreign Multinational Enterprises, 2021

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