Activities of U.S. Multinational Enterprises, 2019

Worldwide employment by U.S. multinational enterprises (MNEs) increased 2.4 percent to 43.9 million workers in 2019 from 42.9 million workers in 2018.

Highlights of the statistics on employment by U.S. parents in 2019:

• Employment in the United States by U.S. parents increased 2.7 percent to 29.3 million workers in 2019. U.S. parents accounted for 66.7 percent of worldwide employment by U.S. MNEs, up from 66.5 percent in 2018.
• U.S. parents accounted for 22.2 percent of total private industry employment in the United States.
• The manufacturing industry accounted for the largest share of employment by U.S. parents (25.4 percent), followed by retail trade (20.1 percent). The “other industries” category, which includes accommodation and food services and transportation and warehousing, accounted for 23.9 percent of U.S. parent employment.

Highlights of the statistics on employment by majority-owned foreign affiliates (MOFAs) in 2019:

• Employment abroad by MOFAs of U.S. MNEs increased 1.8 percent to 14.6 million workers and accounted for 33.3 percent of employment by U.S. MNEs worldwide.
• Employment abroad by MOFAs was largest in China, the United Kingdom, Mexico, India, and Canada.
• In China, employment by MOFAs was largest in manufacturing and accommodation and food services. In Mexico, employment was largest in manufacturing, and in India it was largest in professional, scientific, and technical services. Employment by MOFAs in the United Kingdom and Canada was spread across many industries.

Other highlights of the statistics on the activities of U.S. multinational enterprises in 2019:

• Worldwide current-dollar value added of U.S. MNEs was nearly unchanged at $5.7 trillion. Value added by U.S. parents, a measure of their direct contribution to U.S. gross domestic product, increased 0.5 percent to $4.2 trillion, representing 22.6 percent of total U.S. private-industry value added. MOFA value added decreased 1.5 percent to $1.4 trillion.
• Worldwide expenditures for property, plant, and equipment of U.S. MNEs increased 3.4 percent to $943.8 billion.
• Worldwide research and development expenditures of U.S. MNEs increased 7.1 percent to $408.4 billion.

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