US-based Multinationals
Continue to Hire Offshore
US workforce
continues to hurt
under offshore
growth trends.
by Phil Phillips, PhD
Contributing Editor
phillips@chemarkconsulting.net
According to the US Commerce Depart- ment, and considering US-based compa- nies that have a multinational presence,
it is a fact that they increased their labor force
by a mere 0.1 percent while expanding offshore
employment by 1.5 percent.
While this doesn’t seem like much of an issue
on the surface, it does, in fact have one large impact on our US economy and job loss. This modest expansion of US multinational firms in the
US in 2010 arrived in a year when the private
sector eliminated 0.6 percent of its US workers.
FACTS: US-Based Multinationals
• Account for one-fifth of private employment
• 23 million US workers
• 11 million affiliates offshore
• Since 1999 cut US employment by 1 million =
4% decrease
• Since 1999 added 3.1 million workers off-
shore = 39% increase
• 68% of company employees were in the US,
down from 75% in 1999
• Over 2009, capital spending in US rose 3.3%;
offshore rose 8.6%
Because the government data is lagging, we
do not have 2011 data. We can only speculate
from all the announcements by these same com-
panies we read, that the trend will continue. The
recent appreciation of the Yuan in China should
help slow down the trend on a modest basis
going forward, however, the momentum of new
plant plans in combination with startups in
China alone we feel, will forgo any major
change in these trends on the short- and
medium-terms.
These arrangements have their respective advantages and disadvantages of course, but they
may be a better choice than the other obvious
choice of going out of business. CW
Large Multinationals vs. Small- and Medium-sized Companies
28 | Coatings World
www.coatingsworld.com
May 2012
