Reshoring plus FDI add 171,000 U.S. jobs in 2017

The Reshoring Initiative, Kildeer, Ill., has released its 2017 "Reshoring Report," which contains data on U.S. reshoring and foreign direct investment (FDI) by companies that have shifted production or sourcing from offshore to the U.S. The report, which includes cumulative data from 2010 through 2017 and projections for 2018, indicates that reshoring and FDI are major contributing factors to the country’s rebounding manufacturing sector.

In 2017, combined reshoring and related FDI announcements surged, adding more than 171,000 jobs, up 2,800 percent from 2010. Including upward revisions of 67,000 jobs in prior years, the total number of manufacturing jobs brought to the U.S. from offshore is over 576,000 since the manufacturing employment low of 2010.The 171,000 reshoring and FDI jobs announced equal 90 percent of the 189,000 total manufacturing jobs added in 2017.

Combined reshoring and FDI jobs were up 122 percent compared to unrevised 2016 totals and 52 percent compared to revised 2016 totals. The Reshoring Initiative largely attributes the huge increases to anticipation of greater U.S. competitiveness due to expected corporate tax and regulatory cuts following the 2016 election. Similar to the previous few years, FDI continued to exceed reshoring in terms of total jobs added, but reshoring has closed most of the gap since 2015.

“We publish this data annually to show companies that their peers are successfully reshoring and that they should re-evaluate their sourcing and siting decisions,” said Harry Moser, founder and president of the Reshoring Initiative. “With 3 to 4 million manufacturing jobs still offshore, as measured by our $500 billion/year trade deficit, there is potential for much more growth. We call on the administration and Congress to enact policy changes to make the United States competitive again. Our Competitiveness Toolkit is available to help quantify the impact of policy alternatives, including a stronger skilled workforce, continued corporate tax and regulatory reductions, as well as a lower U.S. dollar.”

To read the full report, visit reshorenow.org/blog/reshoring-initiative-2017-data-report-reshoring-plus-fdi-job-announcements-up-2-800-since-2010/.