Facts & Figures

Tennessee exports a huge range of goods and services, from manufacturing to cotton to computers to its worldfamous whiskey, and from aviation to automotives, Tennessee’s transportation components and parts are in use in vehicles around the world. Today, trade supports nearly 20% of jobs in Tennessee, and this number is growing all the time. Nearly 80% of the Tennessee companies that export their products are small or medium sized businesses, and jobs in exporting plants pay on average up to 18 percent more than similar jobs in non-exporting plants.

Job Creation

• Trade supported nearly 785,000 jobs in Tennessee in 2008, or 21.2% of total jobs, up from 9% in 1992.¹
• One-fifth (20.1%) of all manufacturing workers in Tennessee depended on exports for their jobs.²
• In 2008, 130,600 people in Tennessee were employed by U.S. affiliates of companies that are at least 50% foreign-owned.³

Exports and Growth

• Tennessee exported $25.9 billion in merchandise to foreign markets in 2010. Tennessee’s largest market in 2010 was Canada ($7.2 billion), followed by Mexico ($3.0 billion), China ($1.9 billion), Japan ($1.3 billion), and Germany ($784 million).⁴
• In 2008, 5,020 companies exported goods from Tennessee. Of these, 82% were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.⁵
• Agricultural exports are important to Tennessee’s economy, totaling about $1.2 billion and supporting 15,000 jobs in 2010.⁶
• Since 2007, the U.S. Export-Import Bank has financed close to $380 million in exports from 67 companies in 31 communities in Tennessee.⁷
• Since 1971, Overseas Private Investment Corporation has invested over $115 million in companies throughout Tennessee.⁸

Education and Research

• In 2008-2009, more than 4000 Tennessee students studied abroad, a 8.6% increase over the previous academic year.⁹
• During 2009-2010, around 6000 international students were enrolled in Tennessee colleges and universities, up 8.2 % since the previous year. International students contributed $140 million to the Tennessee economy.¹⁰

Global Engagement

• Since 1961, 1,457 Peace Corps volunteers from Tennessee have served in dozens of countries overseas.¹¹

Download the Fact Sheet

1. http://businessroundtable.org/uploads/studies-reports/downloads/Trade_and_American_Jobs.pdf
2. http://ita.doc.gov/td/industry/otea/state_reports/
3. Anderson, Thomas and William J. Zeile. “Operations of U.S. Affiliates of Foreign Companies Operations in 2008”. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce. http://www.bea.gov/scb/pdf/2010/11%20November/1110_us_ops.pdf
4. http://ita.doc.gov/td/industry/otea/state_reports/
5. http://www.ita.doc.gov/td/industry/otea/state_reports/index.html
6. http://www.fas.usda.gov/info/factsheets/WTO/states.html
7. https://webappsprod01.exim.gov/apps/usmap/usmap.nsf
8. http://www.opic.gov/sites/default/files/docs/OPIC_local_impact.pdf
9. Institute of International Education. “Open Doors 2010 Report on International Educational Exchange Institute of International Education”. STUDY ABROAD BY U.S. STATE, http://www.iie.org/en/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data/Fact-Sheets-by-US-State
10. http://www.nafsa.org/publicpolicy/default.aspx?id=23158
11. http://multimedia.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/stats/homestates.pdf