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The Latest From The Commerce Blog

Fast-Paced Foreign Direct Investment from India

Submitted on January 28, 2015 - 5:20pm
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U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker (center), poses with Mr. Sidharth Birla, former president of the Federation of Indian Chambers for Commerce and Industry, and Dr. Jyotsna Suri, current President of FICCI and Bharat Hotels Chairwoman

Guest blog post by Vinai Thummalapally, Executive Director of the SelectUSA Program.

I recently had the great pleasure of participating in an exciting event with Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker in New Delhi. Hosted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the event brought together business leaders, investors, and national business associations from across India. I had the opportunity to hear their ideas and share in their excitement about India’s fast-growing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States.

India is now the fourth fastest-growing source of FDI into the United States, with a stock of $11 billion in investments as of 2013. As the latest available data show, FDI from India provides:

  • Jobs: U.S. subsidiaries of Indian firms employed more than 43,800 workers in the United States in 2012, with an average yearly compensation of $69,800, well above the national average.
  • Innovative R&D: In 2011, U.S. subsidiaries of Indian firms invested $46 million in research and development in the United States.
  • U.S. Exports: U.S. subsidiaries of Indian firms exported goods worth more than $2 billion from the United States in 2012.

These figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis represent real stories of thriving businesses creating real jobs. SelectUSA, the U.S. government-wide program created to facilitate investment in the United States, has assisted several Indian companies as they sought to set up operations locally.

For example, Shri Govindaraja Textiles, or SG Mills, is a third-generation, family-owned business. The group is the largest spinner in India with a total workforce of 30,000 employees.  Last year, SelectUSA and the U.S. Commercial Service office in New Delhi, helped company management develop and execute a work plan as they considered investing in the United States.  Recently, SG Mills opened its first U.S.-based operation in Eden, North Carolina, and announced plans to invest more than $40 million during the next two years. 

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Honoring Our Outstanding Employees

Submitted on January 28, 2015 - 12:43pm
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Honoring Our Outstanding Employees

Guest blog post from U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews

Yesterday, I had the honor of presenting awards to outstanding employees at the Commerce Department’s 66th annual Gold and Silver Honor Awards ceremony. 

The Gold and Silver Honor Awards are the highest honor that the agency can give to a Commerce Department employee. They showcase the extraordinary skills and talents of the best and brightest employees of the Department. These employees strive to make a profound difference through their work by not just setting goals, but exceeding goals, and they are models of the very best in excellence in public service.  

While I was reading through the list of honorees before the event, I was struck by how many of the award winners are teams. Success is a team sport. And the winners worked together to move Commerce’s mission forward. That is what makes the Department of Commerce one of the best places to work in the entire federal government, as awarded by the Partnership for Public Service last year. 

It was an esteemed privilege to honor these exceptional employees who demonstrated their skill, commitment, passion and professionalism throughout the country. Through tireless trials and commitment to the improvement of the safety, security, prosperity, and quality of life of our citizens and our nation, this new legion of trailblazers developed rapid forensic DNA typing techniques that enables state of the art human identity testing and DNA biometrics to leading the development of an innovative consensus framework to improve the cybersecurity of our nation's critical infrastructure. They also (in a sheer show of heroism) performed a lifesaving rescue of an adult and dog trapped in an apartment fire. 

Whether by individual, agency, office, laboratory or team effort, they came together in support of a single historic mission – to improve the conditions for American businesses to grow, prosper, and create new jobs.  

The Gold Medal Award recognizes distinguished performance characterized by extraordinary, notable or prestigious contributions that impacted the mission of the Department of Commerce. The Silver Medal Award and second highest honor recognizes exceptional performance characterized by noteworthy or superlative contributions that have a direct and lasting impact within the Department. 

Both awards are given in the categories of leadership, personal and professional excellence, scientific/engineering achievement, organizational development, customer service, administrative/technical support, and heroism.  

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Counties as Partners in Investment Decisions- NACo’s 2014 County Economic Tracker

Submitted on January 27, 2015 - 5:17pm
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Counties as Partners in Investment Decisions- NACo’s 2014 County Economic Tracker

Guest Blog post by Emilia Istrate, PhD, Director of Research and Outreach, National Association of Counties

County economies are the building blocks of regional economies (metropolitan areas and micropolitan areas), states and the nation. County governments ensure the functioning of these fundamental units of the U.S. economy by building and maintaining basic infrastructure assets, keeping communities healthy and safe and providing the social safety net for those in need. Counties invest almost $500 billion annually in the services provided to their residents and local communities.

To better understand the dynamics within each county economy, the National Association of Counties (NACo) released earlier this month the 2014 County Economic Tracker: Progress through Adversity, an analysis of the recovery patterns across the 3,069 county economies in 2014. The conditions of a county economy can constrain and challenge county governments, residents and businesses, while also providing opportunities.

The full analysis can be found at www.naco.org/countyeconomies. To access the companion interactive maps and the individualized county profiles, go to NACo’s County Explorer interactive map at www.naco.org/countyexplorer. The January update of NACo’s interactive tool features the economic data from the County Economic Tracker analysis.

The 2014 County Economic Tracker analyzes annual changes of four economic performance indicators— economic output (GDP), employment, unemployment rates and home prices — between 2013 and 2014 across the 3,069 county economies.  In addition, it explores 2012-2013 wage dynamics, taking into account the effect of local cost-of-living and inflation on average annual wages in county economies.

We saw significant growth in 2014.   The economic output (GDP) in 55 percent of all county economies recovered or did not decline over the last decade. Home prices were in a similar situation. Job growth accelerated and 63 percent of county economies witnessed faster job gains than in 2013. This job growth helped unemployment decline in almost all county economies during the last year. However, there is still work that needs to be done to help the economy recover to pre-recession levels, when it comes to unemployment rates.

The economic recovery is starting to spread.   

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