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Article published Oct 21, 2004
Courting overseas money
Chris Winston
Staff
Writer
Less than a week after Spartanburg's annual International
Festival, South Carolina has been recognized once again as a leader in overseas
investment.Jobs created by U.S. subsidiaries of foreign-owned companies
represent more than 8 percent of the state's private-sector employment. That
ranks South Carolina second in the nation, according to a study released this
week by the Organization for International Investment.Led by BMW, Freightliner,
Fuji, Michelin, Nestle and Westinghouse, foreign investment has created 123,400
jobs in the state -- up 11 percent from just five years ago. That ranks 16th in
the country."Obviously, this is one of those fronts where we're very competitive
as a state," said Gov. Mark Sanford. "The more investment we can bring into
South Carolina and stimulate from within South Carolina, the more jobs we're
going to create."The new study, "Insourcing Jobs: Making the Global Economy Work
for America," was conducted by Professor Matthew Slaughter of the Tuck School of
Business at Dartmouth.Slaughter said "outsourcing" of U.S. jobs overseas in
areas such as textiles has completed overshadowed the opposite benefit of free
global trade."What has been almost entirely absent from this discussion about
outsourcing is the converse dimension of globalization," he said.The study
outlines numerous real-life examples of foreign-owned companies supporting the
U.S. economy.One of them in Michelin Group, which has its North American
headquarters in Greenville. The world's largest tiremaker has grown since its
initial investment in 1975 to employ 18,000 American workers."My company long
ago recognized the quality, skill level and work ethic of U.S. workers," said
Michael Fanning, vice president of corporate affairs at Michelin North
America."But our competitive U.S. workforce is only the beginning: we've also
made significant capital investments in the United States, including $2 billion
alone in U.S. research and development over the last 20 years."While outsourcing
has been blamed for the lost of tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs, many of
the jobs created by foreign investment are also in manufacturing, the report
says.Foreign-based companies employ 62,400 workers in manufacturing in South
Carolina.Chris Winston can be reached at 562-2767 or chris.winston@shj.com.