Area Development
America's exports of private services exceed a half trillion dollars (an all-time high) and are responsible for nearly one-third of all our nation's exports of goods and services. So says a new report issued Wednesday by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce's Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA).

Highlights of the "U.S. Trade in Private Services" report include:

In a related blog posting, the Dept. of Commerce's Chief Economist Mark Doms opined that "greater emphasis should be placed on our trade in services" due to a number of reasons. For example, he noted that services make up a large part of our economy; "80 percent or so depending on how you define it." In 2010 alone, he noted, the trade surplus in services "topped $526.6 billion."

From 2002-2008, America's private services exports grew at an annual average rate of 11.1 percent, said Doms. His prediction? "Exports of services are likely to show continued growth, taking advantage of the skill of the U.S. workforce and supporting living-wage U.S. jobs."