December 2024
Factory Jobs in Motor Vehicles and Parts Totaled Over 1 Million in 2023
Motor vehicle and parts manufacturers employed over 1 million Americans in 2023, up 8% from 960,000 jobs in 2017. The last time auto and parts manufacturing jobs exceeded 1 million was 2006, or more than 15 years ago.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics
November 2024
U.S. Services Exports Exceed $1 Trillion for the First Time in 2023
U.S. services exports totaled a record $1.03 trillion in 2023, more than tripling over the past 20 years. The top three markets for U.S. services last year were the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland, each purchasing more than $80 billion in services. Further, the United States enjoyed a $278 billion surplus of services in 2023.
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, International Services
October 2024
U.S. Cleaner Vehicle Registrations Up 24%
Registrations of cleaner vehicles in the United States rose 26% to 12.3 million in 2023, up from nearly 10 million in 2022. Cleaner vehicles accounted for 4.3% of total light-duty vehicle (LDV) registrations last year, accounting for 4.3% of total LDV registrations in 2023. Request a free copy of our updated Illuminating Issues report, America’s Cleaner Vehicle Market: Opportunities and Challenges.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Alternative Fuels Data Center
September 2024
Global Electric Vehicle Sales
China led in new electric car registrations in 2023 at 8.1 million. Europe ranked second at nearly 3.2 million followed by the United States at 1.4 million. These three markets accounted for over 90% of all new electric car sales last year. Measured by production, China manufactured more than half of all electric vehicles sold worldwide in 2023. Request a free copy of our Illuminating Issues report, America’s Cleaner Vehicle Market: Opportunities and Challenges, to learn more about the U.S. cleaner vehicle market.
Source: International Energy Agency, Global EV Outlook 2024
August 2024
Cleaner Vehicles
Sales of cleaner vehicles in the United States stood at 2.6 million, making up 17% of all light-duty vehicle (LDV) sales in 2023, up from only 4% in 2018. To learn more about the domestic cleaner vehicle market, including the growth of electric vehicles (EVs) and U.S. production, request a free copy of our first Illuminating Issues report, America’s Cleaner Vehicle Market: Opportunities and Challenges.
Source: Argonne National Laboratory
July 2024
R&D’s Share of GDP Nationally and by State
Research and Development (R&D) activity accounted for 2.3% of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021. At 6.3%, New Mexico ranked highest in its share of R&D as a percentage of its economy, with Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories located there. Washington (5.0%), Massachusetts (4.9%), and California (4.8%) also topped the list of states by R&D as a share of state GDP. Nearly one third of U.S. R&D was performed in California alone.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Affairs
June 2024
U.S. Travel and Tourism
International tourists boost the U.S. travel and tourism sectors, which accounted for nearly 3% of total U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) and directly employed about 6.6 million people in 2022. Over 66 million international visitors traveled to the United States in 2023, a drop of about 13 million foreign visitors from the 2019 pre-pandemic level. In 2023, Canada and Mexico accounted for more than half of total international arrivals. The United Kingdom, Germany, India, Brazil, South Korea, France, Japan, and China each accounted for more than 1 million arrivals to the United States in 2023. The U.S. government established a goal to attract 90 million international visitors annually to the United States by 2027.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Affairs and National Travel and Tourism Office
May 2024
Rare Earths Production
Rare earths—used in many high-technology industries and defense systems—are not especially rare. In fact, they are relatively abundant ores, but only a few countries mine them. China now produces two-thirds of the world’s rare earths. This is a change from the 1980s when the United States led in the world’s production. The United States has only one operating rare-earth element mine, California’s Mountain Pass, which idled its operations in 2015 but renewed production in 2018. U.S. production of rare-earth mineral concentrates totaled 43,000 metric tons in 2023, a distant second to China at 240,000 metric tons. Rare-earth mining also takes place in a few other countries, including Burma, Australia, Thailand, India, and Russia.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
April 2024
Trade in Autos and Auto Parts
The United States posts large trade deficits with major producers of autos and parts, such as Mexico (-$121 billion), the world’s seventh-largest motor vehicle manufacturer. Mexico is an important manufacturing base for global automakers, including Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, and Tesla. More than three-quarters of the vehicles assembled in Mexico are shipped to the United States. Hefty trade deficits by the United States were also recorded with other large auto-producing countries in 2023, including Japan (-$49 billion), the European Union (-$46 billion), and South Korea (-$36 billion). The U.S. trade deficit in autos and parts production totaled about -$256 billion in 2023, rising by more than one-quarter from around -$200 billion in 2018.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, International Trade Administration (ITA), and International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA)
March 2024
Trade in Advanced Technology Products (ATP)
U.S. advanced technology products (ATP), which include electronics, aerospace, and advanced materials, represented about one-fifth of total manufactured exports from the United States to the rest of the world in 2023. The United States exported aerospace products of roughly $130 billion in 2023, making it the most valuable export group in the ATP category. Additionally, approximately $100 billion of information and communications goods were exported from the United States last year. The Census Bureau uses ten ATP product categories to define trade in high-technology, namely biotechnology, life science, opto-electronics, information and communications, electronics, flexible manufacturing, advanced materials, aerospace, weapons, and nuclear technology.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
February 2024
E-Commerce Sales
Total online retail sales in the United States reached $1.04 trillion in 2022, up from $958 billion in 2021, based on estimated preliminary U.S. government figures. The lion’s share of retail sales remains in stores. Recent available quarterly data show online sales stood at 15.6% of total retail sales for the third quarter of 2023, down from 16.5% in second quarter of 2020, a record-high share posted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as many brick-and-mortar retailers closed their stores and Americans sheltered in their homes. E-commerce sales refer to the sale of goods and services over the internet, extranet, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) network, email or other online system.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
January 2024
Services Trade
The United States is a leader in international services sales. In 2021, services sales by U.S. companies to foreign customers through both trade and sales of foreign affiliates of U.S. multinationals totaled $2.6 trillion. At the same time, services sold to the United States by trade and through U.S. affiliates of foreign-based multinationals amounted to $1.5 trillion. Top customers of U.S. services sales included the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Germany, and Japan.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis