The role of United States-owned businesses in the United Kingdom (executive summary)
Published 5 December 2021
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In 2019, US-owned businesses supported
1.48 million jobs across the UK.
Almost 1 in every 20 UK workers, or 4.7% of all workers, worked for a US-owned business in 2019.
Figure 1: Proportion of total regional employment in US-owned local business units, 2019
Around 60% of all employment in US-owned local business units is outside of London and the South East. This suggests US investment is contributing to the UK바카라 사이트™s levelling up agenda by supporting investment across the UK.
Of the nearly 1.5 million UK workers employed in US-owned businesses, 29% were employed in wholesale and retail trade, the largest of any industry. This was followed by 22% employed in scientific, technical and IT activities, 14% employed in the manufacturing industry and 9% in financial services.
US-owned businesses make a disproportionately positive contribution to the UK economy. US-owned local business units accounted for 1% of all local business units in the UK in 2019, but generated 11.4% of total business turnover. The number of US-owned local business units and employees in the UK have grown almost every year since 1997.
US investment supports local economies in every UK region
In 2019, US-owned local units employed workers across all regions of the UK.
London had the highest employment in US-owned local business units (355,000), followed by the South East (240,000) and the North West (133,000).
Employment in US-owned local business units grew in every region between 1997 to 2019. The region with the largest increase in employment in US-owned local units was Northern Ireland, with a 211% increase. This was followed by Yorkshire and the Humber (158%) and the East Midlands (131%).
US-owned businesses make a positive impact in a variety of industries
Employment in US-owned businesses accounted for 9.1% of all employment in the wholesale and retail trade industry in 2019. This was the largest of any industry in the UK, and was followed by manufacturing (8.5%) and financial services (8.1%).
In 2019, US-owned businesses accounted for 17.6% of all UK business turnover in the scientific, technical and IT services industry. In the manufacturing industry, US-owned local units also accounted for 17.6% of total turnover. The largest industry in terms of total absolute turnover of US-owned businesses in 2019 was financial services, with a total turnover of £238.8 billion.
US-owned businesses have a wider positive impact on the UK economy
Between 2010 and 2019, there was an estimated increase in UK gross value added (GVA), a measure of economic impact, of at least £65.2 billion from US-owned businesses.
Foreign-owned businesses, including US-owned businesses, export a greater value of goods and services from the UK than domestically-owned businesses. It is expected that US-owned businesses contribute to wider economic impacts through exports from the UK.