Gala 2024
US Exports to China Supported Over One Million American Jobs in 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC—December 15, 2022—Combined US goods and services exports to China supported over one million American jobs in 2021, according to a report published today by the US-China Business Council (USCBC), a US trade group of 280 US companies that do business in China. The report is an update to USCBC’s 2022 US Export Report and provides more recent figures for services exports to China and for US jobs supported by combined goods and services exports to China.
Based on the latest full year of data that was recently released, US services exports grew $2.6 billion to a total of $39.6 billion in 2021. US goods exports to China hit an all-time high that year, and the estimated number of US jobs supported by total US exports to China stood at 1,000,646. All but three US states saw the number of jobs supported by exports to China grow, and three states saw the number grow by over 10,000 jobs.
After steep declines in 2020 driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, US services exports to China rebounded by around seven percent in 2021. That growth was spread across the country, with 38 states seeing the volume of their services exports expand in 2021.
Unsurprisingly, travel exports to China—put more simply, the money that Chinese travelers spend in the United States—continued to fall in 2021. The difficulty of travel and high COVID-19 rates in the United States at the time dissuaded many Chinese tourists from visiting. It did not, however, dissuade Chinese students from taking advantage of US education. US exports of education—the money Chinese students spend in the United States—rose by over $600 million in 2021, pushing up education exports in places like New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois.
“We’re delighted to see growth again in how many American jobs are supported by these exports of goods and services to China’s market,” said Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council. “We know that trade with China benefits American businesses and communities across the country, and this is a concrete example of the importance of trade to the US economy and jobs at a time when bilateral relations are severely strained.”
“Chinese students bolster American universities, US agricultural exports support farmers across the country, and more than one million Americans see direct benefits to their lives from economic opportunities between our countries.”
