The number of Connecticut jobs supported by international trade has grown nearly 9 percent over the past year, according to a recent analysis from a national group of corporate CEOs.
The report, backed by Business Roundtable and conducted by Trade Partnership Worldwide, said exports and imports supported approximately 467,800 Connecticut jobs in 2017.
That’s up 8.6 percent, or 37,100 jobs, from BRT’s year-ago report, which identified 430,700 Connecticut jobs supported by international trade.
That amounted to just under one in five jobs.
In total, Connecticut exported an estimated $14 billion in goods and $10.6 billion in services in 2017. While exports were mostly flat compared to 2016, the latest data from the U.S. Commerce Department shows the total value of Connecticut exports rose more than 17 percent between 2017 and 2018.
Jobs tied to trade in Connecticut in 2017 were led by trade and distribution (92,700), scientific and technology services (77,900), finance and insurance (39,500), personal and recreational services (32,700) and manufacturing (28,400), BRT said.
The organization, co-founded in 1972 by former General Electric CEO Fred J. Borch, said export-dependent industries pay about 16 percent more than other jobs.
“Trade-supported jobs are not just at companies that export and import,” the report said. “Trade supports higher wages for workers and lower costs for companies and consumers, providing them with more money to spend on other things.”
Since 1992, shortly before the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was implemented, trade-supported jobs here have increased 90 percent, six times faster than overall job growth, BRT said. In 1992, 10.6 percent of Connecticut jobs were tied to trade. As of 2017, it was 20.2 percent, according to the report.
Nationwide, BRT said international trade supports 39 million jobs, including 12 million related to trade with NAFTA partners Mexico and Canada.
President Donald Trump has been pushing a replacement deal for NAFTA — titled the United State-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) — but the New York Times reported in February that it could face a stalemate in Congress.
BRT has cautioned that if the U.S. pulls out of NAFTA, it could eliminate 1.8 million net jobs across the country, including 21,560 in Connecticut.
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