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As the commonwealth and the nation recover from the global economic downturn, exports can lead the way to economic growth and job creation.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Pennsylvania ranked 11th nationally with total exports valued at $34.6 billion in 2008, the last year for which there is available data. That is more than 6 percent of Pennsylvania's gross domestic product. In that pre-recessionyear, 1.6 million Pennsylvania jobs were linked to exports.
From 1992 to 2008, export-related employment in Pennsylvania more than doubled, from 10.1 percent of all jobs to 21.5 percent. In this decade, Pennsylvania's trade-related employment grew nearly four times faster than total employment from 2004 to 2008.
Pennsylvania's export economy creates jobs in the commonwealth's ports of Erie, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Exporting firms create jobs almost four times faster than nonexporting firms, according to the Washington, D.C....