US has lost more than a quarter of its high-tech workforce

US multinational corporations have stepped up the pace at which they are offshoring their R&D operations, says a new Science & Engineering Indicators report from the National Science Board (NSB). In 2009, the number of new R&D jobs based overseas grew to 27% of the R&D workforces at US multinationals, compared with 16% in 2004. Since 2004, about 85% of R&D employment growth in US multinational corporations has been abroad.

The report also shows that the US lost 28% of its high-tech manufacturing workforce—687 000 jobs—between 2000 and 2010, while the US share of global high-tech exports declined from 19% in 1995 to 15% in 2010. Meanwhile, China’s share of high-tech exports nearly quadrupled to 22% in 2010, compared with 6% in 1995. Asian nations now produce more than half of all high-tech exports worldwide, while the US and the European Union each produce 15%. Exports of high-tech manufactured goods (excluding intra-EU and China–Hong Kong trade) ballooned from $761 billion in 1996 to $2.14 trillion in 2010.

“Other nations clearly recognize the economic and social benefits of investing in R&D and education, and they are challenging the United States leadership position. We’re seeing the result in the very real, and substantial, loss of good jobs,” said Jose-Maria Griffiths, chairman of the subcommittee that oversees production of the biennial NSB report. The NSB is the governing board of NSF.

The report said that in 2009, the combined R&D output of China and nine other Asian nations was $399 billion, which nearly matched that of the US, which was $400 billion. Between 1999 and 2009, the US share of global R&D dropped from 38% to 31%, while the share taken by the 10 Asian nations grew from 24% to 35% during the same period. Despite a worldwide recession, China’s R&D grew by 28% from 2008 to 2009. By contrast, US R&D support from 2008 to 2009 remained nearly level—which amounted to a decline of about 1.7% in inflation-adjusted terms.

R&D expenditures worldwide are estimated to have exceeded $1.25 trillion in 2009, up from $641 billion a decade earlier.