Supporting U.S. Jobs
Ex-Im Bank’s mission is to support American jobs by facilitating the export of U.S. goods and services through providing competitive export financing and ensuring a level playing field for U.S. goods and services in the global marketplace.
Ex-Im’s congressional charter states, “The Bank’s objective in authorizing loans, guarantees, insurance and credits shall be to contribute to maintaining or increasing employments of United States workers.” Since its founding in 1934, Ex-Im Bank has financed over $474 billion of U.S. exports that has supported millions of American jobs.
U.S. Jobs Supported by Ex-Im Bank
In FY 2011, Ex-Im Bank
- Authorized financing to support more than 3,700 export transactions of all sizes with a total estimated value of $41.3 billion.
- Helped more than 3,600 companies through this financing to support an estimated 288,000 export-related U.S. jobs.
| Ex-Im Bank’s Jobs Calculation Methodology
Ex-Im Bank developed a methodology, reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget and based upon data computed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), to calculate the number of jobs associated with Ex-Im-supported exports of goods and services. The Bank uses the latest available domestic employment requirements table (ERT) as computed by the BLS to calculate the number of jobs associated with Ex-Im-supported goods and services. Derived from (i) Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Input-Output tables, (ii) BEA National Income and Product Accounts data (NIPA final demand components), and (iii) BLS industry employment data, the ERT quantifies the number of direct and indirect production-related jobs associated with a million dollars of final demand for 202 detailed industries. The ERT is a tool produced by the BLS biennially as an input into their employment projections program. The Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC) identified this basic methodology as the official U.S. government calculation of jobs supported through exports. For jobs estimates based on all Ex-Im transactions, the Bank supports 7,300 jobs per $1 billion of U.S. exports. This is a weighted-average based on each industry's relative jobs per $1 billion average at time of calculation. |
Ex-Im Bank Finances U.S. Exports to Reficar Refinery in Colombia, Supporting Over 15,000 American Jobs
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Photo of Reficar refinery |
In FY 2011, Ex-Im Bank approved a $2.84 billion direct loan/loan guarantee to Colombia’s Refinería de Cartagena S.A. (Reficar), an independent subsidiary of Ecopetrol S.A., Colombia’s national oil and gas company.
This financing is part of a $5 billion refinery and upgrade project in Cartagena, from which Reficar will supply petroleum products to the domestic and export markets.
Ex-Im’s financing will support the purchases of equipment and services from over 150 large and small U.S. engineering and design, equipment supply, contracting and process licensing firms, including CBI Americas Ltd. in Houston, Texas. Suppliers include small businesses in Lousiana, Texas, Colorado, New Jersey, New York, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.
Ex-Im Bank estimates that this transaction will create or sustain more than 15,000 American jobs for a total of four years.
Small Business Adds Many Jobs with Ex-Im Bank Working Capital Financing
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Photo courtesy of Wallquest Inc. |
Wallquest Inc. – a small-business designer, manufacturer and distributor of consumer and commercial decorative wall coverings – has been exporting to foreign distributors for 30 years. Wallquest exports to approximately 90 foreign buyers in over 50 countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Brazil, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
The company has been using Ex-Im's working capital loan guarantee since 2008, working with PNC Bank as the guaranteed lender of a $3 million loan. With this financing, Wallquest has seen its exports soar 76 percent to over $17 million in 2010 alone. Since 2008, the family-owned company's work force has grown from 80 to more than 150 people at its facilities in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.
"Almost all of our growth since 2008 has been in the export market. Ex-Im Bank’s help has been immense. Ex-Im takes the concern out of financing exports. It has been a seamless process for us because of the relationship between Ex-Im Bank and PNC. They have really helped us expand our global business," said Wallquest Vice President Jack Collins, son of owner John Collins.