Activities of U.S. Multinational Enterprises in 2023
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently released statistics on the activities of U.S. multinational enterprises (MNEs) in 2023. These statistics provide a picture of the overall activities of U.S. parent companies and their foreign affiliates and contain a wide variety of indicators of their financial structure and operations. The statistics cover items that are needed to analyze the characteristics, performance, and economic impact of U.S. MNEs on the U.S. and foreign economies and are obtained from mandatory surveys of U.S. MNEs conducted by BEA.
The following charts present highlights of BEA U.S. MNE statistics for 2023. Affiliate detail is for majority-owned foreign affiliates in order to feature the firms that are unambiguously controlled by the U.S. MNE. Much more detail, including additional data items, can be found on the activities of U.S. multinational enterprises product page.
- Worldwide employment by U.S. MNEs decreased 0.4 percent to 43.9 million workers in 2023 from 44.1 million workers in 2022. Employment in the United States by U.S. parents decreased 0.8 percent to 29.9 million workers, while employment abroad by majority-owned foreign affiliates increased 0.2 percent to 14.0 million workers.
- U.S. parent employment accounted for 68.1 percent of worldwide employment by U.S. MNEs, while majority-owned foreign affiliate employment accounted for 31.9 percent.
- U.S. parents accounted for 21.9 percent of all U.S. private industry employment in 2023, down from 22.5 percent in 2022.
- The manufacturing sector accounted for 26 percent of U.S. parent employment. Within manufacturing, transportation equipment employed the most workers, followed by chemicals and food. Retail trade and “other industries” each accounted for 22 percent of U.S. parent employment.
- Within other industries, transportation and warehousing, along with accommodation and food services, employed the most workers.
- Employment increased in all major industry categories with the exception of mining, retail trade, information, and other industries.
- Chart 2 illustrates the percentage of U.S. parent employment by industry. Chart 3 compares those shares to the share of U.S. parent employment by U.S. private industry sector. (Table 6.4D “Full-Time and Part-Time Employees by Industry” was used to calculate U.S. parent share of U.S. private industry employment in chart 3.)
- U.S. parents in the manufacturing sector accounted for 60 percent of U.S. private industry manufacturing employment.
- U.S. parents in the information sector accounted for 7 percent of U.S. parent employment and 66 percent of U.S. private industry information employment.
- The countries with the largest employment by majority-owned foreign affiliates were India, Mexico, the United Kingdom, China, and Canada. Together, these five countries accounted for nearly half of all majority-owned foreign affiliate employment.
- In India, the largest industry was professional, scientific, and technical services. In Mexico, the largest industry was manufacturing, while other industries accounted for the largest share in the United Kingdom.
- Current-dollar value added of U.S. parents, a measure of their direct contribution to U.S. gross domestic product, decreased 1.0 percent to $5.3 trillion. The sector with the largest decrease was manufacturing.
- Majority-owned foreign affiliate current-dollar value added increased 0.8 percent to $1.6 trillion. The largest increase was in finance and insurance.
- U.S. parents accounted for 76 percent of worldwide value added by U.S. MNEs, while majority-owned foreign affiliates accounted for the remaining 24 percent.
- U.S. parents accounted for 21.4 percent of all U.S. private industry value added, down from 23.1 percent in 2022.
- The sector that accounted for the largest share of U.S. parent value added was manufacturing, accounting for 33 percent of the total.
- Other industries and finance and insurance were second and third, respectively, with transportation and warehousing contributing the largest share within other industries.
- The three countries with the largest value added by majority-owned foreign affiliates were the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland. Together, these three countries accounted for 30 percent of global majority-owned foreign affiliate value added.
- Manufacturing was the largest sector contributor to value added within all three of these countries.
- U.S. parent expenditures for property, plant, and equipment (PP&E) increased 6.9 percent to $886.1 billion. The largest increase was in the other industries sector, driven by the utilities industry.
- Majority-owned foreign affiliate PP&E expenditures increased to $216.2 billion.
- U.S. parents contributed 80 percent of worldwide PP&E expenditures by U.S. MNEs, while majority-owned foreign affiliates contributed the remaining 20 percent.
- U.S. parents accounted for 43.6 percent of all U.S. PP&E expenditures in 2022, the latest year that U.S. business PP&E expenditures data are available. This is a higher share than for employment and value added.
- The sectors with the largest U.S. parent PP&E expenditures were manufacturing (30 percent), other industries (24 percent), and information (17 percent).
- Within other industries, utilities and real estate and rental and leasing contributed the largest shares.
- PP&E expenditures increased in all major industry categories with the exception of retail trade, information, and finance and insurance.
- The countries with the largest PP&E expenditures by majority-owned foreign affiliates were the United Kingdom, Canada, and Mexico. These three countries accounted for approximately one-quarter of total majority-owned foreign affiliate PP&E expenditures.
- The information sector accounted for the largest share of PP&E expenditures in the United Kingdom. Manufacturing accounted for the largest share of PP&E expenditures in Canada and Mexico.
- Research and development (R&D) expenditures by U.S. parents increased 7.1 percent to $476.6 billion. The largest increases were in the chemicals manufacturing and information industries.
- R&D expenditures by majority-owned foreign affiliates increased to $81.7 billion.
- U.S. parents accounted for 85 percent of all worldwide R&D expenditures by U.S. MNEs, while majority-owned foreign affiliates contributed the remaining 15 percent.
- U.S. parents accounted for 64.4 percent of all R&D expenditures by U.S. businesses in 2022, the latest year that U.S. business R&D data is available. This share is substantially higher than the U.S. parent share of U.S. business value added and employment.
- Manufacturing accounted for the largest share of U.S. parent R&D expenditures, making up over half of the total. Information was the second-largest industry.
- The three countries with the largest R&D expenditure by majority-owned foreign affiliates were the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and India. These three countries accounted for 30 percent of all majority-owned foreign affiliate R&D expenditures.
- By sector, the largest contributor to R&D expenditures in the United Kingdom and Switzerland was information and in India was professional, scientific, and technical services.
- Employment covers the total number of full-time and part-time employees on the payroll at the end of the entity's fiscal year.
- Value added is the value of the final goods and services produced by a firm's labor and property. Value added represents the firm's direct contribution to the gross domestic product of the firm's country of residence.
- Expenditures for property, plant, and equipment cover expenditures for land and depreciable structures and equipment.
- Research and development (R&D) expenditures include expenditures for R&D performed by the U.S. parent or the affiliate, whether the R&D was for their own use or for use by others and irrespective of the source of funding.
