As internet access and reliance grows, so does the potential for digital cross-border trade. Building on other work from the Department of Commerce's Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) and Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), this report, which serves to inform policymakers, business leaders and others, summarizes estimates of U.S. digital trade with Canada and Mexico. We cannot definitively...

In March, the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) released the first in a series of reports updating and expanding our previous work examining the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce. That first report, "STEM Jobs: 2017 Update," provided an overview of STEM workers and their earning power. This second report provides a more detailed look at the gender dynamics of the STEM...

Excerpt from report introduction: Federal regulations impose enormous costs on America’s businesses and working families. These costs burden virtually every sector of our economy, although the manufacturing sector is disproportionately hard hit. The direct costs on manufacturing companies were estimated by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to be $138.6 billion as of 2014, though this...

The United States remains an attractive foreign direct investment (FDI) destination for a variety of reasons, including its large consumer base, a productive workforce, a business environment that encourages innovation and its legal protections. As a result, foreign firms make investments in the United States on a regular basis by establishing new operations, purchasing existing operations of...

The expected introduction of autonomous, or “self-driving,” vehicles (AVs) promises to have a potentially profound impact on labor demand. This paper explores this potential effect by identifying the occupations most likely to be directly affected by the business adoption of autonomous vehicles. In 2015, 15.5 million U.S. workers were employed in occupations that could be affected (to varying...

The U.S. Census Bureau has been collecting data on retail sales since the 1950s and data on e-commerce retail sales since 1998. As the internet has become ubiquitous, many retailers have created websites and even entire divisions devoted to fulfilling online orders. Many consumers have turned to e-commerce as a matter of convenience or to increase the variety of goods available to them. Whatever...

The Key Elements of the Deal The Department of Commerce and the Government of Mexico and the Mexican sugar industry have reached agreement on final amendments to the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) suspension agreements on sugar from Mexico. The Department finalized these amendments after careful consideration of the comments received from interested parties and other...

The initial strength of the rebound in manufacturing after the Great Recession has cooled off in recent years. 1 Although limited, the available data so far for 2017 indicates that there may be some renewed momentum for growth. Additionally, a monthly survey of manufacturers indicates that the sector is growing. However, the U.S. manufacturing sector is made up of many industries that produce...