Area Development
More than 38 million American jobs depend on trade, and approximately 20 percent of U.S. jobs rely on imports and exports. Service-sector jobs particularly depend on trade. And unlike popular wisdom, the net impact of imports and exports on U.S. manufacturing jobs is positive.

Business Roundtable provides a broad look at the effects of trade on U.S. and state-level employment in its Trade and American Jobs report. As imports and exports have grown over the past 10 years, so, too have U.S. jobs dependent on trade. And those jobs have grown at a faster rate than overall American jobs.

Trade is especially important to the U.S. economy as a whole. In 2008, exports and imports accounted for more than a third of the country's GDP. In the past three years, export growth has been strong, rising an average 12.5 percent annually. The export sector is robust, and will continue to support jobs in the future.