December 2011
Exports Support Jobs for Texas Workers
Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 6.5 percent of Texas’ total private-sector employment. Over one-quarter (27.6 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Texas depend on exports for their jobs (2009 data latest available).
Exports Sustain Thousands of Texas Businesses
A total of 25,656 companies exported from Texas locations in 2009. Of those, 23,792 (93 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
Small and medium-sized firms generated over one-third (34 percent) of Texas’ total exports of merchandise in 2009.
Foreign Investment Creates Jobs in Texas
In 2009, foreign-controlled companies employed 409,500 Texas workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Texas in 2009 included the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Foreign investment in Texas was responsible for 4.7 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2009.
Texas Depends on World Markets
Texas's export shipments of merchandise in 2010 totaled $207.0 billion.
The state's largest market was Mexico. Texas posted merchandise exports of $72.6 billion to Mexico in 2010, 35 percent of the state’s total merchandise exports. Mexico was followed by Canada ($18.8 billion), China ($10.3 billion), Brazil ($7.2 billion), and Korea ($6.4 billion).
The state's largest merchandise export category is computers and electronic products, which accounted for $39.2 billion of Texas's total merchandise exports in 2010. Other top merchandise exports are chemicals manufactures ($38.9 billion), petroleum and coal products ($33.1 billion), machinery manufactures ($26.4 billion), and transportation equipment ($18.7 billion).
Texas' Metropolitan Exports
Ten metropolitan areas in Texas exported over $1 billion in merchandise in 2009. The leading metropolitan area in exporting was Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown with $65.8 billion in merchandise exports in 2009. This area represented 52.0 percent of Texas' exports, and ranked as the second largest metro area exporter nationally. Other major metropolitan areas in Texas that exported in 2009 included Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ($19.9 billion), El Paso ($7.7 billion), Austin-Round Rock ($6.0 billion), San Antonio ($4.4 billion), Laredo ($4.4 billion), McAllen-Edinburg-Mission ($3.7 billion), Brownsville-Harlingen ($3.4 billion), Beaumont-Port Arthur ($2.3 billion), and Corpus Christi ($1.7 billion).
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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