Companies doing international business drive jobs and investment in Virginia

A new report says globally engaged U.S. companies are an engine for growth in Virginia, accounting for 53 percent of the state’s private-sector economic output and 47 percent of its private-sector jobs in 2011.

According to the Business Roundtable, Virginia’s economy includes 837 U.S. companies that operate internationally, competing in global markets on a daily basis for capital and customers.

Business Roundtable, a Washington,D.C.-based association of CEOs of leading U.S. companies, highlights facts about the benefits of globally engaged businesses in a new state-by-state analysis.

“Globally engaged U.S. companies are a powerful engine for economic growth, supporting jobs and creating economic opportunity all across the United States,” Business Roundtable President John Engler, said in a statement. “

Drawing from the group’s research and U.S. government data, the report said that the Virginia companies:

·         Added $173.2 billion to the state’s private-sector economy in 2011;

·         Directly or indirectly supported 1.9 million private-sector jobs with 65 percent of those jobs in the services sector.

·         Paid an average of $75,957 per job in wages, salaries and benefits.

According to the Business Roundtable, globally engaged companies operate in a highly competitive marketplace in which differences in national tax systems can be a decisive factor in where companies choose to invest. The group has been lobbying for a more competitive U.S. corporate tax system.

Earlier this year, it launched a campaign that calls on Congress and the Obama administration to modernize and simplify the U.S. tax code by adopting a competitive corporate tax rate comparable to the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) average and transitioning to a modern international tax system similar to those of other developed countries.