Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Exports & Foreign Investment

 

In 2023, Pennsylvania exported a record $52.9 billion of goods to the world.  In 2021, exports from Pennsylvania supported an estimated 147 thousand jobs.

 

Exports from Pennsylvania and Jobs

• Pennsylvania was the 11^th largest state exporter of goods in 2023.
• In 2023, Pennsylvania goods exports were $52.9 billion, an increase of 28 percent ($12 billion) from its export level in 2013 (latest data available).
• Goods exports accounted for 5.5 percent of Pennsylvania GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• Pennsylvania goods exports in 2021 (latest data available) supported an estimated 147 thousand jobs. Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.

Manufacturing Exports from Pennsylvania and Jobs

• In 2023, Pennsylvania exported $46.2 billion of manufactured products.
• Pennsylvania exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 131 thousand jobs in 2021 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is chemicals, which accounted for $14.3 billion of Pennsylvania's total goods exports in 2023.
• Other top manufacturing exports are computer and electronic products ($6.1 billion), machinery, except electrical ($4.7 billion), primary metal manufacturing ($4.3 billion), and transportation equipment ($3.5 billion).

 

Exports Sustain Thousands of Pennsylvania Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 15,718 companies exported from Pennsylvania locations in 2022 (latest data available). Of those, 13,812 (88 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
•  Small and medium-sized firms generated 32.2 percent of Pennsylvania's total exports of goods in 2022.

 

Pennsylvania Depends on World Markets

• The state’s largest market was Canada. Pennsylvania exported $14.3 billion in goods to Canada in 2023, representing 27 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by Mexico ($5.4 billion), Netherlands ($3.2 billion), China ($3.0 billion), and Japan ($2.2 billion).
• Pennsylvania’s exports to major world areas included:

 

 

• 47 percent of Pennsylvania’s goods exports ($24.7 billion) in 2023 went to current FTA partners. 

Agriculture in Pennsylvania depends on Exports

• Pennsylvania is the country’s 23^rd largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $2.6 billion in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2022 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).^[1]
• Top Agricultural exports were:

 

 

International Investment Creates Jobs in Pennsylvania

• In 2021 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 333,500 Pennsylvania workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Pennsylvania included the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany. 
• Foreign investment in Pennsylvania was responsible for 6.4 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2021.

Pennsylvania’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

In 2022 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Pennsylvania recorded goods exports: Pittsburgh ($11.2 billion), Harrisburg-Carlisle ($3.1 billion), Reading ($2.1 billion), York-Hanover ($2.1 billion), Scranton-Wilkes-Barre ($1.6 billion), Erie ($1.1 billion), Lancaster ($859.4 million), Chambersburg-Waynesboro ($705.5 million), Williamsport ($370 million), East Stroudsburg ($287.8 million), Lebanon ($261.4 million), State College ($253 million), Altoona ($206.2 million), Johnstown ($146.5 million), Bloomsburg-Berwick ($115.9 million), and Gettysburg ($89 million).