New Report Says Reshoring Added Record Number of Jobs in 2021

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.

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. The Data Report discusses the trend and how reshoring will continue to be key to U.S. manufacturing and economic recovery.

Key takeaways from the report include:

• 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 10X that from Western Europe.
• Texas led the other states in jobs announced, followed by Tennessee.

Preliminary data indicates a continuing surge of reshoring and FDI in 2022.

Reshoring was the key to U.S. manufacturing and economic recovery in 2021. 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 Reshoring Initiative offers the Biden administration our help in developing essential policies. Our Competitiveness Toolkit is available to help quantify the impact of policy alternatives, including a stronger skilled workforce, competitive corporate tax rates and a lower U.S. dollar.

See the full report Reshoring Initiative 2021 Data Report: Essential Product Industries Drive Job Announcements to Record High for detailed analysis.

The Reshoring Initiative’s 2021 Data Report contains data on U.S. reshoring and FDI by companies that have shifted production or sourcing from offshore to the United States. The report includes 2021 data and projections for 2022 full year. The report 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.”