Virginia: Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment

Exports Support Jobs for Virginia's Workers

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 3.2 percent of Virginia's total private-sector employment. Nearly one-sixth (15.1 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Virginia depend on exports for their jobs. (2006 data are the latest available.)

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 2006 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: 2006.

Source: State Export-Related Employment Project, International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census.

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Exports Sustain Thousands of Virginia Businesses

A total of 5,058 companies exported goods from Virginia locations in 2007. Of those, 4,241 (84 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with fewer than 500 employees.

SMEs generated over one-fourth (28 percent) of Virginia's total exports of merchandise in 2007.

Source: International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division: Exporter Database.

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Foreign Investment Creates Jobs in Virginia

In 2007, foreign-controlled companies employed 157,000 workers in Virginia. Major sources of Virginia's jobs in 2007 were the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

Nearly one-quarter of these jobs (23 percent, or 35,700 workers) were in the manufacturing sector in 2007. Foreign-controlled companies employed more than one of every eight manufacturing workers (12.7 percent) in Virginia in 2007.

Foreign investment in Virginia was responsible for 5 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2007.

Note: All figures exclude employment in banks affiliated with foreign companies.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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Virginia Depends on World Markets

Virginia's export shipments of merchandise in 2008 totaled $18.9 billion, up $7.3 billion from 2004.

The state's largest market in 2008 was Canada, which received exports of $2.7 billion, or 14 percent of Virginia's merchandise export total. Canada was followed by the United Kingdom ($1.2 billion), China ($1.2 billion), Germany ($965 million), and Portugal ($791 million).

Among manufactured products, the state's leading export category is computers and electronic products, which accounted for $3.5 billion (18 percent) of Virginia's total merchandise exports in 2008. Other top manufactured exports that year were chemicals ($2.7 billion), transportation equipment ($2.3 billion), and machinery manufactures ($1.6 billion).

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.

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Virginia's Metropolitan Exports

In the first half of 2008, the metropolitan area of Richmond exported $2.5 billion in merchandise, 29 percent of Virginia's total merchandise exports. Other major metropolitan areas in Virginia that exported in the first half of 2008 included Harrisonburg ($335 million), Roanoke ($316 million), and Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford ($271 million). Several major metropolitan area exporters included some counties in Virginia. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria (including some parts of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and West Virginia) exported $4.9 billion, while Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol (including some parts of Tennessee) exported $1.3 billion, and Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News (including some parts of North Carolina) exported $1.2 million in merchandise in the first half of 2008.

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.

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