May 3, 2021
News Release 21-058
Inv. No(s). 332-345
Contact: Peg O'Laughlin, 202-205-1819
United States Remains World's Largest Services Exporter and Importer in 2019, Reports USITC

The United States is the world's largest services market and was the world’s leading exporter and importer of services in 2019, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its new publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2021 Annual Report.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year's report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the services sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year’s report focuses on professional services and includes sections detailing trends in six specific industries: research and development services, legal services, management consulting services, education services, architecture and engineering services, and healthcare services. Each section analyzes global market conditions in the industry and summarizes the industry’s outlook.

The report describes trade in services via cross-border transactions through 2019 and via affiliate sales through 2018 (latest available data). Highlights include:

  • The services sector represents the largest sector of the U.S. economy, and the United States is the world’s top cross-border exporter and importer of services. In 2019, U.S. exports of private services totaled $853.3 billion, whereas imports totaled $564.3 billion.
  • Within the services sector, sales by foreign affiliates of U.S. firms – the leading channel by which many U.S. services are delivered to foreign markets – totaled $1.7 trillion in 2018 while the value of services purchased from foreign-owned affiliates in the United States totaled $1.2 trillion.
  • The professional services sector includes a variety of activities that generally require highly skilled labor and, in many cases, specific licenses or credentials are required to provide the services. Professional services accounted for 34 percent of total cross-border services exports and 25 percent of imports in 2019.  They represented 15 percent of total sales by the foreign affiliates of U.S. firms and 15 percent of total purchases from the U.S. affiliates of foreign firms.
  • In recent years, some professional service sectors have changed the way their services are provided, whether by introducing new business models and suppliers or by shifting from providing services in person to providing them online. In particular:
    • legal services - alternative legal service providers (ALSPs), a diverse group of companies including legal process outsourcing firms (LPOs) and the Big Four accounting firms, have outpaced the growth of traditional law firms;
    • management consulting (MC) - an evolving trend towards the digital supply of MC services preceded the COVID-19 pandemic, but COVID-19 travel restrictions have hastened this trend, and MC providers now mostly supply services remotely;
    • education - the volume of university-level foreign students studying in the United States has experienced systemic declines, which were further aggravated by COVID-19 in 2020.
  • For other professional services sectors, changing consumer preferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic have driven recent developments, including:
    • architecture and engineering - COVID-19 has created strong demand for project design in essential business segments, such as hospitals, water management, and pharmaceutical manufacturing, and for pandemic-related redesign services for medical, home, education, and office space;
    • healthcare - the adoption of telemedicine in the United States has accelerated since March 2020, as the share of U.S. consumers who have used telemedicine went up by 35 percent in 2020 from 11 percent in 2019.

The USITC hosted its 14th annual services roundtable, which was held virtually for the first time on October 27, 2020. The discussion, summarized in the report, focused on the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic on demand, output, modes of supply, business practices, labor, and productivity in U.S. and global services industries, and the impact of establishing a presence in one or more foreign markets on U.S. services firms’ operations and overall employment in the United States.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2021 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-345, USITC publication 5129, April 2021) is available on the USITC's Internet site at https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub5192.pdf.

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July 28, 2020
News Release 20-076
Inv. No(s). 332-345
Contact: Peg O'Laughlin, 202-205-1819
United States Was the World's Largest Exporter and Importer of Services in 2018, Reports USITC

The United States is the world's largest services market and was the world’s leading exporter and importer of services in 2018, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its new publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2020 Annual Report.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year's report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the services sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year’s report focuses on financial services and includes chapters on three specific industries: banking services, insurance services, and securities services. Each chapter analyzes global market conditions in the industry, examines recent trade performance, and summarizes the industry’s outlook.

The report describes trade in services via cross-border transactions through 2018 and via affiliate sales through 2017 (latest available data). Highlights include:

  • The services sector represents the largest sector of the U.S. economy, and the United States is the world’s top cross-border exporter and importer of services. In 2018, U.S. exports of private services totaled $805.7 billion, whereas imports totaled $544.3 billion. Preliminary data indicate that cross-border exports of private services rose by 2.2 percent to $823.7 billion in 2019, while imports rose to $571.3 billion. Financial services accounted for 16 percent of total cross-border services exports and 14 percent of imports.

  • Within the services sector, sales by foreign affiliates of U.S. firms – the leading channel by which many U.S. services are delivered to foreign markets – totaled $1.6 trillion in 2017 while the value of services purchased from foreign-owned affiliates in the United States totaled $996.0 billion. Financial services accounted 19.8 percent of total sales by the foreign affiliates of U.S. firms and 17.6 percent of total purchases from the U.S, affiliates of foreign firms.

  • In 2018, the value of financial services totaled $1.4 trillion, or 8.6 percent of total U.S. private sector gross domestic product. Financial services were also an important contributor to U.S. private sector employment in 2018, accounting for 5.7 percent of the private sector workforce, or 6.7 million full-time equivalent employees. Workers in the financial services industry earned, on average, $108,050 per year in 2018, significantly higher than the average private sector wage of $63,306.

  • A well-developed financial services sector provides the economic infrastructure necessary for modern economies to function by mobilizing savings, allocating capital to productive activities, facilitating personal and commercial transactions, and providing instruments to manage risk. Financial services are essential to the production of nearly all goods and services and are crucial facilitators of international trade.

Over the past few years, a number of financial services trends stand out:

  • the traditional banking industry is facing growing competition from both financial technology (fintech) startups and more established “big tech” companies;

  • insurance companies have developed new lines of insurance that address both emerging cyber risks, like corporate data breaches, and long-standing risks associated with natural disasters; and

  • major emerging markets like China and India have announced measures that may serve to liberalize certain financial services market segments; some U.S. securities firms have taken steps to move into China.

The USITC hosted its 13th annual services roundtable on October 23, 2019. The discussion, summarized in the report, focused on the impact of policy uncertainty (such as Brexit or U.S.-China trade negotiations) on output, trade, and the liberalization of trade rules in services industries, and the impact of market factors (such as increasing automation or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills shortages) on the capital/labor ratio in services industries, as well as the effect of shifts in the relative importance of these factors on trade patterns and competitiveness.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2020 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-345, USITC publication 5094, July 2020) is available on the USITC's Internet site at http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub5094.pdf.

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June 13, 2018
News Release 18-071
Inv. No(s). 332-345
Contact: Peg O'Laughlin, 202-205-1819
U.S. Services Providers Remain Competitive in the Global Services Market, Reports USITC

The United States is the world's largest services market and was the world’s leading exporter and importer of services in 2016, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its new publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2018 Annual Report.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year's report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the services sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year’s report focuses on electronic services and includes chapters on three specific industries: audiovisual services, computer services, and telecommunication services. Each chapter analyzes global market conditions in the industry, examines recent trade performance, and summarizes the industry’s outlook.

The report describes trade in services via cross-border transactions through 2016 and via sales by and purchases from affiliates of services firms through 2015 (latest available data). Highlights include:

  • In 2016, the value of U.S. cross-border commercial services exports was $733.6 billion, while imports totaled $483.1 billion. The leading markets for cross-border U.S. services exports were the UK, China, Canada, Ireland, and Japan. Similarly, the UK, Germany, Japan, Canada, and India supplied the largest single-country shares of U.S. services imports. Preliminary data also indicate that in 2017, U.S. cross-border services exports increased to $761.7 billion, while imports rose to $516.0 billion.

  • In 2015, sales by foreign affiliates of U.S. services firms totaled $1.4 trillion, while purchases from U.S. affiliates of foreign services firms totaled $952.5 billion. The largest markets for sales of services by U.S.-owned foreign affiliates were the UK, Canada, and Ireland. The largest shares of purchases were from firms based in Japan, the UK, and Germany.

  • Electronic services accounted for 12.7 percent ($93.4 billion) of total U.S. cross-border services exports and 11.2 percent ($54.3 billion) of imports in 2016. Foreign affiliates of U.S. electronic services firms represented 18.5 percent ($270.1 billion) of sales by U.S.-owned foreign affiliates in all industries in 2015, while U.S. affiliates of foreign electronic services firms represented 13.9 percent ($132.7 billion) of purchases from foreign-owned U.S. affiliates in all industries.

  • In 2016, value added by the U.S. electronic services sector was $989 billion, and the sector accounted for 6.9 percent of U.S. private sector GDP. Electronic services accounted for a small share of total U.S. private sector employment in 2016, with 3.7 million full-time equivalent employees (3.2 percent of total private sector employment). The sector had average output per worker of $265,717, and electronic services workers earned an average wage of $106,052.

  • Audiovisual services are growing rapidly worldwide, and the Chinese market is of growing interest to U.S. filmmakers, though state censorship and foreign film quotas limit market access. In emerging markets, computer services are becoming widely available via mobile devices; additionally, goods manufacturers are increasingly building computer-enabled services into their production processes. U.S. telecommunications carriers are investing in network infrastructure, connecting a growing array of devices to the internet, and entering content and advertising markets.

  • The USITC hosted its 11th annual services roundtable on October 25, 2017. The discussion, summarized in the report, focused on the relationship between goods and services trade, and recent developments in the tradability of services.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2018 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-345, USITC publication 4789) is available on the USITC's Internet site at http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4789.pdf.

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June 8, 2017
News Release 17-086
Inv. No(s). 332-345
Contact: Peg O'Laughlin, 202-205-1819
U.S. Services Providers Remain Competitive in the Global Services Market, Reports USITC

The United States is the world's largest services market and was the world’s leading exporter and importer of services in 2015, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its new publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2017 Annual Report.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year's report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the services sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year’s report focuses on professional services and includes chapters on four specific industries: accounting and auditing services, architecture and engineering services, legal services, and management consulting services. Each chapter analyzes global market conditions in the industry, examines recent trade performance, and summarizes the industry’s outlook.

The report describes in detail trade in services via cross-border transactions through 2015 and via affiliate sales through 2014 (latest available data).  Preliminary data for 2016 indicate that U.S. services exports exceeded those in 2015 by 0.3 percent, or $2.0 billion, whereas U.S. imports were 3.2 percent higher ($14.8 billion) in 2016 than in 2015.

Highlights of the 2017 report include:

  • In 2015, the value of U.S. commercial services exports was $730.6 billion (15 percent of global services exports), while imports totaled $467.1 billion (10 percent of global services imports). Preliminary data also indicate that in 2016, U.S. services exports increased slightly to $732.6 billion, while imports rose to $482.0 billion.
  • From 2014 to 2015, U.S. cross-border services exports rose by 1 percent (compared to 7 percent in 2013–2014), while U.S. services imports grew just over 2 percent (down from  almost 5 percent the previous year). Within the services sector, sales by foreign affiliates of U.S. firms – the leading channel by which many U.S. services are delivered to foreign markets – totaled $1,503.4 billion while the value of services purchased from foreign-owned affiliates in the United States totaled $918.7 billion.
  • The U.S. had a surplus of $48.7 in international trade in professional services as in 2015 the subsector accounted for 19 percent of both imports and exports. Professional services accounted for about 8 percent of total sales by foreign affiliates of U.S. firms and 10 percent of total purchases from foreign-owned firms located in the United States.
  • The contribution of private sector professional services to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) was $2.6 trillion in 2015, accounting for 19 percent of U.S. private sector GDP.  The output of these services grew by 3.6 percent in 2015, faster than the output of private sector services as a whole (2.9 percent). Among professional services industries, the healthcare and social assistance sector was not only the largest -- accounting for 8 percent of total private sector GDP -- but also registered the fastest growth (4.5 percent) during 2015. During the same year, education services recorded the slowest growth (0.2 percent).
  • Professional services accounted for 25.8 percent of total private sector employment in the United States, or nearly 29 million full-time equivalent (FTE) employees – a share that has remained stable since at least 2010. Employment in healthcare and social assistance represented more than half (58.4 percent) of this total, followed by miscellaneous professional, scientific, and technical services (18.5 percent), and education services (10.8 percent). Labor productivity in professional services grew by 0.9 percent, though this represents an improvement over the 2010-2014 period when labor productivity remained essentially unchanged (-0.3 percent). Workers in the professional services industry earned an average wage of $65,861 in 2015, which exceeded the private sector average, but trailed all other services categories except distribution services. The business models of professional services firms are evolving in response to changes in technology. Software is increasingly able to perform some routine tasks like tax preparation or legal research, but the Internet also enables some services to be delivered digitally across borders and enhances the ability of small firms to compete in sectors like consulting. Professional services firms are also adapting to changing economic conditions by finding new markets, such as legal services in China, and niches within industries, such as green building in architecture services, as well as providing services which blur the lines between industries, for example when large accounting firms increasingly provide consulting services. Licensing, certification, or other registration requirements continue to pose challenges to professional services firms, particularly where such requirements are opaque, though the effects vary by market.
  • The USITC hosted its 10th annual services roundtable on November 17, 2016. The discussion, summarized in the report, focused on the usefulness of the “modes of supply” framework, originated in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and on the importance of initiatives to harmonize regulations and to liberalize services trade.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2017 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-345, USITC publication 4682, September 2017) is available on the USITC's Internet site at http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4682.pdf.

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October 20, 2016
News Release 16-134
Inv. No(s). 332-345
Contact: Peg O'Laughlin, 202-205-1819
U.S. Services Providers Remain Competitive in the Global Services Market, Reports USITC

The United States is the world's largest services market and was the world’s leading exporter and importer of services in 2014, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its new publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2016 Annual Report.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year's report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the service sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year’s report focuses on financial services and includes chapters on three specific industries: banking services, insurance services, and securities services. Each chapter analyzes global market conditions in the industry, examines recent trade performance, and summarizes the industry’s outlook.

The 2016 report adds new interactive graphics that allow users to view and refine, as they choose, the data presented.

The report describes trade in services via cross-border transactions through 2014 and via affiliate sales through 2013 (latest available data). Highlights include:

  • In 2014, the value of U.S. commercial services exports was $690.1 billion (14 percent of global services exports), while imports totaled $453.3 billion (9 percent of global services imports). Preliminary data also indicate that in 2015, U.S. services exports increased to $730.6 billion, while imports rose to $467.1 billion.
  • From 2013 to 2014, U.S. cross-border services exports rose close to 4 percent (down slightly from 5 percent in 2012–13), while U.S. services imports grew 3 percent (virtually unchanged from the previous year). Financial services accounted for 15 percent of exports and 15 percent of imports, resulting in a surplus of $35.1 billion in this subsector in 2014.
  • Within the services sector, sales by foreign affiliates of U.S. firms -- the leading channel by which many U.S. services are delivered to foreign markets -- rose by 3 percent to slightly more than $1.3 trillion in 2013. Financial services accounted for about 20 percent of total sales by U.S.-owned foreign affiliates.
  • The contribution of private sector financial services to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) was $1.2 trillion in 2015, accounting for nearly 9 percent of total U.S. private sector GDP. The output of these services grew by 2.6 percent in 2015, slightly slower than the GDP growth in the private sector (2.8 percent). Among the financial services industries, the GDP of rental and leasing services grew the fastest in 2015 at 9.4 percent, followed by insurance services (3.2 percent), and banking services (1.2 percent) while securities services declined by 1 percent.
  • Financial services accounted for 5.7 percent of total private sector employment in 2015, or 6.4 million full-time equivalent (FTE) employees -- a share that has remained stable since 2010. Employment in banking services represented almost 40 percent of this total, followed by insurance services (39 percent). Labor productivity in financial services grew slowly during 2010–2015, with an average output per worker of $192,110 in 2015. Wages in financial services were the second highest of any services sector, with workers earning on average $99,672 in 2015, nearly twice the average wage for the private sector as a whole.
  • Financial services are facing significant challenges from digital technologies and in navigating the post-recessionary financial landscape of increased regulation and low interest rates. U.S. financial services firms have adapted by incorporating new financial technologies into their operations, but also face rising cybersecurity risks. In addition, the growth of the Chinese financial system has increased competition for U.S. banks while at the same time creating an attractive market for U.S. securities firms.
  • The USITC hosted its ninth annual services roundtable on November 5, 2015. The discussion, summarized in the report, focused on evolution and effectiveness of services trade provisions in existing trade agreements, and the impact of digital technologies on the cross-border provision and liberalization of services.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2016 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-345, USITC publication 4643, September 2016) is available on the USITC's Internet site at https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4643.pdf.

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July 12, 2012
News Release 12-077
Inv. No(s). 332-345
Contact: Peg O'Laughlin, 202-205-1819
U.S. Service Providers Remain Competitive in Global Services Market, Reports USITC

 

U.S. Services Exports Grew by 9 percent from 2009-2010

 

The United States remained the world's largest services market and the world's leading exporter and importer of services in 2010, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2012 Annual Report.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year's report presents an overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the service sectors and geographic markets that contributed substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year's report focuses on infrastructure services, such as banking and telecommunications, which are essential to a country's overall economic growth and development and are used by every firm regardless of economic sector. The report also includes separate chapters on specific industries (banking, insurance, logistics, retail, securities, and telecommunications). These chapters analyze global competitive conditions in the industry, examine recent trade performance, discuss non-tariff measures that affect trade, and summarize the industry's outlook.

The 2012 report covers cross-border trade in services through 2010 and affiliate sales through 2009. Highlights of the report follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • From 2009 to 2010, U.S. cross-border services exports increased by 9 percent (to $518 billion) while U.S. services imports grew by 6 percent (to $358 billion). This represented a recovery from the previous year, when exports and imports of services fell following the financial crisis. Infrastructure services accounted for 25 percent of total U.S. cross-border services exports and 37 percent of cross-border imports in 2010.
  • Services supplied abroad by foreign affiliates of U.S. firms continued to exceed services purchased from U.S. affiliates of foreign firms, reaching $1.1 trillion and $669 billion, respectively, in 2009. Infrastructure services accounted for 60 percent of both sales and purchases of services through affiliates.
  • The value added (i.e., the output minus the cost of inputs) by U.S. infrastructure services in 2010 was $3.8 trillion, equal to 43 percent of the value added by all services and 34 percent of total private sector GDP. This figure had declined in previous years as the financial crisis and ensuing recession weakened demand, but the sector's value added in 2010 represented 6 percent growth over the previous year.
  • Infrastructure services employed 30 million full-time-equivalent employees in 2010, equal to 30 percent of the total U.S. private sector workforce. Retail services accounted for 13 million of these employees. In 2010, labor productivity in infrastructure services grew by 7 percent while average annual wages grew by 4 percent (to $56,000), exceeding the private sector average wage but trailing wages in goods manufacturing and professional services. Both productivity and wages varied widely among infrastructure services industries.
  • Regulation is a recurring theme among infrastructure services industries covered in this year's report. For example, financial reforms enacted in 2010 affected the banking, insurance, and securities services industries. Such regulations aim to address the potential negative effects of providing services and to meet economic and social objectives. However, regulations can also represent non-tariff measures that impede the ability of services providers to enter and operate in markets.
  • The outlook for growth in each infrastructure service industry is, for the most part, dependent on the overall level of economic growth, although factors such as regulatory reform, technological innovation, and market access will also have a major impact. Joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions are likely to increase as a way for firms to reduce costs and enter foreign markets. Market access will be increasingly important to the banking, logistics, and retail industries, which anticipate faster demand growth in developing countries than in developed countries.
  • The USITC hosted its fifth annual services roundtable on November 3, 2011. The discussion, summarized in the report, covered multilateral and regional trade negotiations, ways to harmonize services regulations, and services industries' contributions to global economic activity.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2012 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-345, USITC publication 4338, July 2012) is available on the USITC's Internet site at http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4338.pdf.

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