Rising U.S. Exports—Plus Reshoring—Could Help Create up to 5 Million Jobs by 2020
CHICAGO, IL—Manufactured exports—a bright spot of the U.S. economy in recent years—are set to surge. Combined with jobs created as a result of reshoring, higher U.S. exports could add 2.5 million to 5 million jobs by the end of the decade, as manufacturers shift production from leading European countries and Japan to take advantage of substantially lower costs in the U.S., according to new research by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
BCG projects that by around 2015, the United States will have an export cost advantage of 5 to 25% over Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and Japan in a range of industries. Among the biggest drivers of this advantage will be the costs of labor, natural gas, and electricity. As a result, the United States could capture 2 to 4% of exports from the four European countries and 3 to 7% from Japan by the end of the current decade. This would translate into as much as $90 billion in additional U.S. exports per year, according to BCG’s analysis.