In 2021 the private and federal push for domestic supply of essential goods propelled reshoring and foreign direct investment (FDI) job announcements to a record 261,000, bringing the total jobs announced since 2010 to over 1.3 million, according to the. recently released 2021 Data Report from The Reshoring Initiative
The report, which contains data on U.S. reshoring and FDI, provides data and analysis in categories ranging from the number of manufacturing jobs gained, to a breakdown of data by industry, country and state.
“We publish this data semiannually to show companies that their peers are successfully reshoring and that they should reevaluate their sourcing and siting decisions,” said Harry Moser, founder and president of the Reshoring Initiative. “With 5 million manufacturing jobs still offshore, as measured by our $1.1 trillion/year goods trade deficit, there is potential for much more growth. We call on the administration and Congress to enact policy changes to make the United States competitive again.”
For the second year in a row, reshoring exceeded FDI by 100%, in contrast to 2014 thru 2019 when FDI exceeded reshoring. Additionally, the number of companies reporting reshoring and FDI set a new record of over 1,800 companies.
Takeaways from the Report
- The year-over-year increase is due almost exclusively to companies filling supplying chain gaps of essential products including electric batteries, semiconductors, PPE, pharmaceuticals, rare earths and renewable energy.
- The Computer and Electronics industry has seen the largest jump in % of jobs, due to semiconductor/chip investment.
- Reshoring from Asia is about ten times that from Western Europe.
- Texas led the other states in jobs announced, followed by Tennessee.
Preliminary data indicate a continuing surge of reshoring and FDI in 2022
Reshoring was the key to U.S. manufacturing and economic recovery in 2021, the report notes. “The Biden administration actions to fix key supply chains contributed substantially to the 2021 and forecast 2022 results but are short-term fixes. We see the administration applying tourniquets rather than addressing the underlying issue of U.S. manufacturing cost being uncompetitive.”
The group points to its Competitiveness Toolkit as a way to “help quantify the impact of policy alternatives, including a stronger skilled workforce, competitive corporate tax rates, and a lower U.S. dollar.”
