Exports support 11.8 million jobs in the U.S., according to
Export Nation, a recent Brookings study. The report found that export activity is highly concentrated, with more than 65 percent of exports and export-related jobs in the nation's top 100 metropolitan areas. The 10 metro areas with the highest value of exports produced about 43 percent of all the top 100 metro areas' exports in 2008. The Baltimore metro area falls in the top third of that category, producing $9 billion in annual exports and more than 74,000 export-related jobs.
The Baltimore area exported 6.8 percent of goods the area produced in 2008, according to the report, and total exports have grown an average of 7.1 percent annually from 2003 to 2008. Wages in the area's top export industry, chemical manufacturing, averaged $70,965, compared to an average annual salary of $66,449 for the leading export industry in the top 100 metro areas. Maryland's exports reached a record high of $11.4 billion in 2008, growing at a rate of 27 percent. In 2008, Maryland exported goods to 200 countries.
The report also concluded that a significant increase in U.S. exports could dramatically improve job opportunities for those without college degrees. Export-intensive industries pay higher wages than domestic-oriented industries in large metro areas. For every $1 billion in exports of a metro-area industry, workers in that industry earn roughly 1 percent to 2 percent higher wages.
Future export growth will come increasingly from large emerging markets. U.S. exports to Brazil, India and China have been increasing rapidly during the last decade, doubling in size between 2003 and 2008. The metropolitan areas that produce the largest U.S. exports to the BICs are well-positioned to take advantage of the growth of these countries.
Source: Brookings Institute
Writer: Walaika Haskins