December 2011
Exports Support Jobs for Mississippi's Workers
Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 4.7 percent of Mississippi's total private-sector employment. Over one-ninth (11.9 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Mississippi depend on exports for their jobs (2009 data latest available).
Exports Sustain More Than One Thousand Mississippi Businesses
A total of 1,222 companies exported from Mississippi locations in 2009. Of those, 930 (76 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
Small and medium-sized firms generated over one-quarter (26 percent) of Mississippi's total exports of merchandise in 2009.
Foreign Investment Creates Jobs in Mississippi
In 2009, foreign-controlled companies employed 27,400 Mississippi workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Mississippi in 2009 included Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
Foreign investment in Mississippi was responsible for 3.1 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2009.
Mississippi Depends on World Markets
Mississippi's export shipments of merchandise in 2010 totaled $8.2 billion.
The state's largest market was Canada. Mississippi posted merchandise exports of $1.3 billion to Canada in 2010, 16 percent of the state’s total merchandise exports. Canada was followed by Mexico ($1.2 billion), Panama ($710 million), China ($405 million), and Afghanistan ($291 million).
The state's largest merchandise export category is petroleum and coal products, which accounted for $2.0 billion of Mississippi's total merchandise exports in 2010. Other top merchandise exports are chemicals manufactures ($1.4 billion), computers and electronic products ($919 million), paper products ($758 million), and transportation equipment ($644 million).
Mississippi's Metropolitan Exports
In 2009, the metropolitan area of Pascagoula exported $1.4 billion in merchandise, 26.7 percent of Mississippi's total merchandise exports. Other major metropolitan areas in Mississippi that exported in 2009 included Gulfport-Biloxi ($747 million), Jackson ($432 million), and Hattiesburg ($183 million). Another metropolitan area exporter that included some counties of Mississippi was Memphis (including some counties in Tennessee and Arkansas as well) which exported $8.4 billion in merchandise in 2009.
Exports Support Jobs
Note: Export-related employment data shown do not include manufacturing and non-manufacturing jobs involved in the export of non-manufactured goods, such as farm products, minerals, and services sold to foreign buyers. Indirect exports exclude imported items. The complete 2009 export-related employment series is available on our Export Related Jobs pages. Additional information on methodology used in the export-related employment series can be found in the U.S. Census Bureau's publication Exports from Manufacturing Establishments: 2009.
Source: State Export-Related Employment Project, International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census.
Exports Sustain Businesses
Source: International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division: Exporter Database.
Foreign Investment
Note: All figures exclude employment in banks affiliated with foreign companies.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Trade with World Markets
Source: Revised Origin of Movement State Export Series, Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division.
Caution: The Origin of Movement series allocates exports to states based on transportation origin, i.e., the state from which goods began their journey to the port (or other point) of exit from the United States. The transportation origin of exports is not always the same as the location where the goods were produced. Consequently, conclusions about "export production" in a state should not be made solely on the basis of the Origin of Movement state export figures.
Metropolitan Exports
Source: International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division: Metropolitan Export Series.
Caution: The Origin of Movement zip-based series allocates exports to metropolitan areas based on transportation origin, i.e., the metropolitan area from which goods began their journey to the port (or other point) of exit from the United States. The transportation origin of exports is not always the same as the location where the goods were produced. Consequently, conclusions about "export production" in a metropolitan area should not be made solely on the basis of the Origin of Movement zip-based export figures.
Prepared by the Office of Trade and Industry Information, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.
Data updated December 5, 2011.
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