International Commerce Critical to Jobs and Economic Recovery, With Green Mountain State's Trade-Dependent Employment Growing Five Times the Rate of Total State Employment Overall Since 1992
Vermont Business Magazine A new study from the Business Roundtable in Washington, DC, finds that international trade supported 91,000 jobs in Vermont in 2018, having represented more than 1 out of every 5 jobs in the state before the pandemic.
Since 1992, before the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the share of jobs tied to trade in Vermont has increased by 96 percent. Additionally, the Green Mountain State's trade-related employment grew five times faster than total state employment from 1992 to 2018.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant economic disruption to U.S. workers and businesses, the data show that opening markets to American goods and services around the world through rules-based trade is critical to U.S. economic recovery and helping American workers and families get back on their feet.
“Defeating the COVID-19 pandemic, accelerating economic recovery and expanding opportunities for all Americans depend on opening foreign markets to American goods and services, removing barriers to trade and investment and strengthening supply chain resilience,” said Lance Fritz, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Union Pacific and Chair of the Business Roundtable Trade & International Committee. “Free and fair trade supports U.S. manufacturing, farmers and service providers by reaching more customers, strengthening U.S. innovation leadership and creating good-paying American jobs. With tens of millions of American jobs at stake, Business Roundtable CEOs will continue to work with policymakers and key trading partners to promote rules-based trade that opens new markets and levels the playing field for American workers, farmers and businesses.”
The study - prepared by Trade Partnership Worldwide – analyzes the latest-available employment and trade data from 2018 and examines the net impacts of both exports and imports of goods and services on American jobs.
Highlights include:
- North America: Trade with Canada and Mexico supported 27,700 Vermont jobs, underscoring the importance of fully implementing the newly enacted United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to strengthen North American competitiveness.
- China: Trade with China supported 16,700 Vermont jobs in 2018, highlighting the importance of fully implementing the Phase One trade agreement, expeditiously negotiating additional structural reforms in China and removing additional tariffs and barriers to trade between the two largest economies in the world.
- Exports: Vermont exported $2.9 billion in goods and $1.1 billion in services in 2018, including semiconductors and components, navigational and measuring instruments, miscellaneous manufactured commodities and travel services.
- Small Businesses: Of Vermont's 1,137 exporters, 85 percent are small- and medium-sized companies with less than 500 workers.
Business Roundtable CEO members lead companies with more than 15 million employees and $7.5 trillion in revenues. The combined market capitalization of Business Roundtable member companies is the equivalent of over 27 percent of total U.S. stock market capitalization, and Business Roundtable members invest nearly $147 billion in research and development – equal to over 40 percent of total U.S. private R&D spending. Our companies pay $296 billion in dividends to shareholders and generate $488 billion in revenues for small and medium-sized businesses. Business Roundtable companies also make more than $8 billion in charitable contributions.
A summary of Vermont data can be found here.
The full study can be found here.
Source: Washington - Business Roundtable 10.7.2020