The United States remained the world’s largest services market and was the world’s leading exporter and importer of services in 2023*, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its new publication, Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade: 2025 Annual Report. The U.S. services sector also continued to be the largest sector of the U.S. economy. 

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year’s report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the services sectors and geographic markets that significantly contribute to recent services trade performance.

This year’s report focuses on trade in professional services, including accounting and auditing, advertising, architecture and engineering, education, legal, and management consulting services. The report includes a special topic section on research and development services, as well as two thematic chapters. 

• The first thematic chapter focuses on how skills gaps and the introduction of new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), are affecting the competitiveness of professional services suppliers. 
• The second indicates how changing demographics, including aging and income growth, in advanced and emerging markets; businesses’ ongoing digitalization; and the move by many manufacturing firms to reorganize their supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic are driving demand for certain professional services after the pandemic.

In recent years, professional services suppliers, such as those listed below, have adopted new technologies to improve productivity, lower costs, and address increased constraints in skilled labor supply.

• Accounting and Auditing Services: Firms are using new technologies and outsourcing or offshoring to improve productivity and lower costs. Firms are reducing the cost of supplying these services by automating and importing lower-skilled tax and auditing functions, while driving revenue growth through higher-value advisory services.
• Architecture and Engineering Services: Firms have had difficulties in hiring and retaining skilled workers, and in response some are offering mentorship, internship opportunities, and flexible work schedules. New technologies like AI, building information modeling, and drone surveillance are increasingly used for design, risk assessment, 3D modeling, and other applications.
• Legal Services: New technologies have led to the growth of lower-priced and more technically sophisticated alternative legal services providers and legal technology companies. U.S. firms supplying legal services in foreign markets are using technology to increase efficiency but are also facing complex regulatory environments.

The demand for professional services in the following sectors reflects changing demographics and expanding digitalization.

• Advertising Services: This industry has seen a sharp decline in demand for linear television content and a sharp rise in demand for video streaming services content. Firms are also seeing growing demand for content developed for social media platforms, and increasingly use AI technologies to target consumers more effectively.
• Education Services: Many U.S. universities have sought to attract international students to boost declining domestic enrollments and offset funding shortfalls. The international branch campuses of some U.S. universities have struggled to enroll enough students or attract adequate financing, with many such campuses closing in recent years. 
• Management Consulting Services: Demand has been driven by the need for assistance in dealing with technological advancements and shifts in workplace habits, along with supply chain optimization and sustainability initiatives. Traditional consulting firms have been impacted by rising competition from IT firms, small niche companies, and freelance consulting platforms.

The USITC hosted its 18th annual services roundtable on October 30, 2024. The discussion, summarized in the report, focused on how widespread workforce gaps and aging demographics are affecting U.S. services industries, how some graduates of U.S. schools and universities are struggling to find employment within the first two years, and how AI is expected to augment or replace many tasks in professional services, among other topics.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade: 2025 Annual Report (Inv. No. 332-605, USITC Publication 5643, July 2025) is available on the USITC website. An interactive dashboard supplements the report.

*The latest year available for cross-border services trade data is 2023; the latest year available for affiliate sales and purchases data is 2022.

The United States remained the world’s largest services market and was the world’s leading exporter and importer of services in 2022, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its new publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2024 Annual Report. The U.S. services sector also continues to represent the largest sector of the U.S. economy. 

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year’s report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the services sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year’s report focuses on trade in financial services, which includes a wide range of activities that are responsible for facilitating monetary transactions, lending to consumers and firms, mobilizing and managing savings, providing liquidity in debt and equity markets, advising and underwriting corporate finance transactions, and developing instruments that manage risk.

The report includes a special topic section on the impact of higher inflation and interest rates, as well as two thematic chapters that focus on the use of digital and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in financial services and discuss changing demand for financial services related to sustainability, weather events, and the expansion of capital markets in emerging economies. Each of the subsectors in financial services (banking, insurance, and securities) are addressed in the special topic section and the two thematic chapters.

Financial services firms continued to digitalize their operations while looking to implement new AI technologies. 

• In banking, increasing digitalization has allowed banks to use advanced analytics in new ways throughout their operations. Middle- and back-office functions are using AI to improve fraud detection, risk management, and credit approvals.
• In insurance, firms are continuing to digitalize their operations, including to sort claims and applications, calculate risk scores, and verify and complete software applications. Insurers are also increasingly employing AI to aid pricing, claims processing, fraud detection, and underwriting. 
• In securities, firms such as investment banks and hedge funds have digitalized their processes, including through algorithmic trading strategies driven by machine learning and AI, and have introduced market innovations such as tokenized assets using blockchain technologies. 

Financial services firms are expanding the range of products and services they offer in response to heightened customer demand for sustainability and financial inclusion, as well as contributing to the growth of capital markets in emerging economies. 

• In banking, banks have prioritized sustainability (as it relates to climate change, gender equality, and financial inclusion) in response to growing demand for sustainable investment products and the increasing number of international frameworks focused on these issues. 
• In insurance, global property and casualty insurance companies have experienced changing demand conditions, including an increase in global insured losses, driven by such factors as increased population and development in coastal and other vulnerable areas, increased insurable values of physical assets, and the incidence and location of extreme weather events. 
• In securities, securities markets in emerging economies, especially large ones like China and India, are seeing increased transaction volumes and a broader range of securities products because of increased incomes and demand for additional savings and investment opportunities. 

The USITC hosted its 17th annual services roundtable, which was held on November 2, 2023. The discussion, summarized in the report, focused on infrastructure development and financing and services trade, and building services trade capacity.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2024 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-601, USITC publication 5512, May 2024) is available on the USITC's website at http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub5512.pdf.

The United States was the world's largest services market and was the world’s leading exporter and importer of services in 2021, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its new publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2023 Annual Report. As also noted in the report, preliminary data on U.S. cross-border services trade for 2022 show that total services exports were 15.9 percent higher in 2022 compared to 2021.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year's report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the services sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year’s report focuses on distribution services, including specific discussions on retail supply chains, e-commerce, logistics, warehousing, maritime shipping, port services, trucking and rail, air cargo, and express delivery via drones. Each section analyzes global market conditions in the industry and summarizes the industry’s outlook.

The report describes detailed trade in services via cross-border transactions through 2021 and via affiliate sales through 2020, as well as preliminary cross-border trade data for 2022 (latest available data). Several highlights are listed below.

• In 2021, the services sector represented the largest sector of the U.S. economy, and the United States is the world’s top cross-border exporter and importer of services. U.S. exports of private services totaled $771.9 billion, whereas imports totaled $524.9 billion, resulting in a $247.0 billion trade surplus.
• Within the services sector, sales by foreign affiliates of U.S. firms—the leading channel by which many U.S. services are delivered to foreign markets—totaled $1.6 trillion in 2020 while the value of services purchased from foreign-owned affiliates in the United States totaled $1.2 trillion. 
• The distribution services sector includes a wide range of activities that facilitate the movement of goods through the supply chain from producer to end consumer. Distribution services accounted for 7.1 percent of total cross-border services exports and 17.4 percent of imports in 2021. They represented 27.4 percent of total sales by the foreign affiliates of U.S. firms and 29.5 percent of total purchases from the U.S. affiliates of foreign firms in 2020.

Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic created challenges for global supply chains and the distribution services that enable them, while recent volatility in consumer demand for goods imports and pandemic-related measures disrupted distribution and transportation networks. At the same time, firms have adopted new technologies to improve competitiveness and reach new customers. Distribution networks, including retail, logistics, and warehousing, adapted to these developments in a myriad of ways. In particular:

• In retail supply chains, the pandemic highlighted the limits of longstanding global supply chain practices such as just-in-time inventory management, with firms shifting to focus on supply chain resiliency and increasing transparency;
• In e-commerce, global e-commerce marketplace platforms have increasingly allowed small and medium-sized enterprises to reach foreign customers, driven by advances in digital technology;
• In logistics, innovation (including adoption of data analytics and tracking technologies) and new business models helped the industry improve efficiency competitiveness; and
• In warehousing, increased demand led to rapid growth in the sector while highlighting labor issues such as high turnover, labor availability issues, and injuries.

Pandemic-related disruptions also led to recent developments in transportation services, including maritime shipping, ports, trucking and rail, air cargo, and express delivery via drone.

• In maritime shipping, increased demand for sea freight led to record profitability for carriers and increased government scrutiny of the industry.
• In port services, congestion resulted in increased wait times, delays, and costs at ports, while spurring investment in port expansion and automation, but delays and prices have fallen sharply since late 2022.
• In trucking and rail, the pandemic exacerbated longstanding labor issues in these networks, which are vital in connecting consumers to global supply chains.
• In air cargo, passenger air travel was disrupted during the pandemic, decreasing air cargo capacity, while the entry of new air cargo providers in the sector led to increased competition.
• In express delivery via drone, the market remained small and was developing slowly, but firms continue to pilot new drone delivery projects.

The USITC hosted its 16th annual Services Roundtable, which was held virtually, on November 2, 2022. The discussion, summarized in the report, focused on recent global economic and political shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic and trade policy uncertainty, as well as the impact of these shocks on distribution services.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2023 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-594, USITC publication 5431, May 2023) is available on the USITC's Internet site at https://usitc.gov/publications/332/pub5431.pdf. The link to the interactive dashboard is:  https://www.usitc.gov/publications/industry_econ_analysis_332/2023/recent_trends_us_services_trade_2023_annual_report.

 

About factfinding investigations: USITC general factfinding investigations, such as this one, cover matters related to tariffs, trade, and competitiveness and are generally conducted under section 332(g) of the Tariff Act of 1930 at the request of the U.S. Trade Representative, the House Committee on Ways and Means, or the Senate Committee on Finance. The resulting reports convey the Commission’s objective findings and independent analyses on the subjects investigated. The Commission makes no recommendations on policy or other matters in its general factfinding reports. Upon completion of each investigation, the USITC submits its findings and analyses to the requester. General factfinding investigation reports are subsequently released to the public unless they are classified by the requester for national security reasons.

The United States is the world's largest services market and continued to be the world’s leading exporter and importer of services in 2020, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its new publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2022 Annual Report (inv. no. 332-345).

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year's report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the services sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year’s report focuses on digital and electronic services and includes sections detailing trends in three specific industry categories: audiovisual services, computer services, and telecommunications services. Each section analyzes global market conditions, emerging trends, and the industry outlook in these categories.

The report describes trade in services via cross-border transactions through 2020 and via affiliate transactions through 2019 (latest available data). Highlights include:

• The services sector represents the largest sector of the U.S. economy, and the United States continued to be the world’s top cross-border exporter and importer of services. In 2020, U.S. exports of private services totaled $684.0 billion, whereas imports totaled $435.6 billion.
• Within the services sector, sales by the foreign affiliates of U.S. firms – the leading channel by which many U.S. services are delivered to foreign markets – totaled $1.8 trillion in 2019 while the value of services purchased from foreign-owned affiliates in the United States totaled $1.2 trillion.
• Digital and electronic services accounted for 16.1 percent of total cross-border services exports and 16.4 percent of imports in 2020. Digital and electronic services represented 23.9 percent of total sales by the foreign affiliates of U.S. firms and 15.9 percent of total purchases from the U.S. affiliates of foreign firms.
• U.S. digital and electronic services industries are highly competitive, and U.S. firms are among the global leaders in technology adoption and in research and development. By facilitating data and information flows, firms in the sector provide critical infrastructure to the U.S. and global economies. The report highlights important or emerging trends in selected industries.  In particular:
  • audiovisual services - the streaming of film and TV serials by subscription video-on-demand companies like Netflix is displacing traditional sources of entertainment, including movie theaters, pay-TV, and over-the-air broadcasting. In the user-generated content market, platforms like YouTube and TikTok have continually improved the sophisticated algorithms that customize the viewing experience for platform users and have been the single most important factor driving the growth of such platforms in terms of both viewing hours and advertising revenue.
  • computer services - the placement of new data centers is evolving to include locations at the “edge” of the network (to be closer to customers), on the seacoast (to be near undersea cable landings), and to locations with cooler climates (to reduce emissions and/or energy use). The COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of people into remote working arrangements, increasing the adoption of cloud software and services. During the pandemic, many people also spent more time at home, resulting in strong demand for video games and other at-home entertainment.
  • telecommunications services - country-level mobile services markets are driven by economic development and other policies, which impact a number of factors including the predominant mobile technologies used to offer services and the adoption of smartphones by the general populace. In recent years, U.S. cloud and content providers like Google and Facebook have sharply increased their activities and investments in undersea fiber optic cables that transmit data traffic internationally.

The USITC hosted its 15th annual services roundtable, which was held virtually on October 28, 2021. The discussion, summarized in the report, focused on the evolving concept of worker-centric services trade and the potential climate effects of services sector operations as well as the contribution of services industries toward mitigating adverse climate impacts.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2022 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-345, USITC publication 5325, May 2022) is available on the USITC's Internet site at https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub5325.pdf. A set of interactive, web-based presentations of underlying data is also available at: https://www.usitc.gov/publications/industry_econ_analysis_332/2022/recent_trends_us_services_trade_2022_annual_report.htm

The United States is the world's largest services market and was the world’s leading exporter and importer of services in 2019, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its new publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2021 Annual Report.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year's report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the services sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year’s report focuses on professional services and includes sections detailing trends in six specific industries: research and development services, legal services, management consulting services, education services, architecture and engineering services, and healthcare services. Each section analyzes global market conditions in the industry and summarizes the industry’s outlook.

The report describes trade in services via cross-border transactions through 2019 and via affiliate sales through 2018 (latest available data). Highlights include:

• The services sector represents the largest sector of the U.S. economy, and the United States is the world’s top cross-border exporter and importer of services. In 2019, U.S. exports of private services totaled $853.3 billion, whereas imports totaled $564.3 billion.
• Within the services sector, sales by foreign affiliates of U.S. firms – the leading channel by which many U.S. services are delivered to foreign markets – totaled $1.7 trillion in 2018 while the value of services purchased from foreign-owned affiliates in the United States totaled $1.2 trillion.
• The professional services sector includes a variety of activities that generally require highly skilled labor and, in many cases, specific licenses or credentials are required to provide the services. Professional services accounted for 34 percent of total cross-border services exports and 25 percent of imports in 2019.  They represented 15 percent of total sales by the foreign affiliates of U.S. firms and 15 percent of total purchases from the U.S. affiliates of foreign firms.
• In recent years, some professional service sectors have changed the way their services are provided, whether by introducing new business models and suppliers or by shifting from providing services in person to providing them online. In particular:
  • legal services - alternative legal service providers (ALSPs), a diverse group of companies including legal process outsourcing firms (LPOs) and the Big Four accounting firms, have outpaced the growth of traditional law firms;
  • management consulting (MC) - an evolving trend towards the digital supply of MC services preceded the COVID-19 pandemic, but COVID-19 travel restrictions have hastened this trend, and MC providers now mostly supply services remotely;
  • education - the volume of university-level foreign students studying in the United States has experienced systemic declines, which were further aggravated by COVID-19 in 2020.
• For other professional services sectors, changing consumer preferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic have driven recent developments, including:
  • architecture and engineering - COVID-19 has created strong demand for project design in essential business segments, such as hospitals, water management, and pharmaceutical manufacturing, and for pandemic-related redesign services for medical, home, education, and office space;
  • healthcare - the adoption of telemedicine in the United States has accelerated since March 2020, as the share of U.S. consumers who have used telemedicine went up by 35 percent in 2020 from 11 percent in 2019.

The USITC hosted its 14th annual services roundtable, which was held virtually for the first time on October 27, 2020. The discussion, summarized in the report, focused on the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic on demand, output, modes of supply, business practices, labor, and productivity in U.S. and global services industries, and the impact of establishing a presence in one or more foreign markets on U.S. services firms’ operations and overall employment in the United States.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2021 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-345, USITC publication 5129, April 2021) is available on the USITC's Internet site at https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub5192.pdf.

The United States is the world's largest services market and was the world’s leading exporter and importer of services in 2018, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its new publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2020 Annual Report.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year's report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the services sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year’s report focuses on financial services and includes chapters on three specific industries: banking services, insurance services, and securities services. Each chapter analyzes global market conditions in the industry, examines recent trade performance, and summarizes the industry’s outlook.

The report describes trade in services via cross-border transactions through 2018 and via affiliate sales through 2017 (latest available data). Highlights include:

• The services sector represents the largest sector of the U.S. economy, and the United States is the world’s top cross-border exporter and importer of services. In 2018, U.S. exports of private services totaled $805.7 billion, whereas imports totaled $544.3 billion. Preliminary data indicate that cross-border exports of private services rose by 2.2 percent to $823.7 billion in 2019, while imports rose to $571.3 billion. Financial services accounted for 16 percent of total cross-border services exports and 14 percent of imports.


• Within the services sector, sales by foreign affiliates of U.S. firms – the leading channel by which many U.S. services are delivered to foreign markets – totaled $1.6 trillion in 2017 while the value of services purchased from foreign-owned affiliates in the United States totaled $996.0 billion. Financial services accounted 19.8 percent of total sales by the foreign affiliates of U.S. firms and 17.6 percent of total purchases from the U.S, affiliates of foreign firms.


• In 2018, the value of financial services totaled $1.4 trillion, or 8.6 percent of total U.S. private sector gross domestic product. Financial services were also an important contributor to U.S. private sector employment in 2018, accounting for 5.7 percent of the private sector workforce, or 6.7 million full-time equivalent employees. Workers in the financial services industry earned, on average, $108,050 per year in 2018, significantly higher than the average private sector wage of $63,306.


• A well-developed financial services sector provides the economic infrastructure necessary for modern economies to function by mobilizing savings, allocating capital to productive activities, facilitating personal and commercial transactions, and providing instruments to manage risk. Financial services are essential to the production of nearly all goods and services and are crucial facilitators of international trade.

Over the past few years, a number of financial services trends stand out:

• the traditional banking industry is facing growing competition from both financial technology (fintech) startups and more established “big tech” companies;


• insurance companies have developed new lines of insurance that address both emerging cyber risks, like corporate data breaches, and long-standing risks associated with natural disasters; and


• major emerging markets like China and India have announced measures that may serve to liberalize certain financial services market segments; some U.S. securities firms have taken steps to move into China.

The USITC hosted its 13th annual services roundtable on October 23, 2019. The discussion, summarized in the report, focused on the impact of policy uncertainty (such as Brexit or U.S.-China trade negotiations) on output, trade, and the liberalization of trade rules in services industries, and the impact of market factors (such as increasing automation or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills shortages) on the capital/labor ratio in services industries, as well as the effect of shifts in the relative importance of these factors on trade patterns and competitiveness.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2020 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-345, USITC publication 5094, July 2020) is available on the USITC's Internet site at http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub5094.pdf.

The United States is the world's largest services market and was the world’s leading exporter and importer of services in 2017, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its new publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2019 Annual Report.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year's report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the services sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year’s report focuses on distribution services and includes chapters on three specific industries: logistics services, maritime transport services, and retail services. Each chapter analyzes global market conditions in the industry, examines recent trade performance, and summarizes the industry’s outlook.

The report describes trade in services via cross-border transactions through 2017 and via affiliate sales through 2016 (latest available data). Highlights include:

• In 2017, the value of U.S. commercial services exports was $778.4 billion (15 percent of global services exports), while imports totaled $520.4 billion (10 percent of global services imports). Preliminary data also indicate that in 2018, U.S. services exports increased by 3.4 percent to $805.7 billion, while imports rose by 4.3 percent to $544.3 billion.  Distribution services accounted for 6 percent of U.S. cross-border services, and 12 percent of services imports.
• Within the services sector, sales by foreign affiliates of U.S. firms – the leading channel by which many U.S. services are delivered to foreign markets – totaled $1.4 trillion in 2016 while the value of services purchased from foreign-owned affiliates in the United States totaled $876.9 billion. Distribution services accounted for about 29 percent of total sales by foreign affiliates of U.S. firms and 30 percent of total purchases from foreign-owned firms located in the United States.
• The contribution of private sector distribution services to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) was $2.7 trillion in 2017, accounting for 17 percent of U.S. private sector GDP. From 2016 to 2017 distribution services grew by 3.2 percent, faster than the 2.1 percent growth rate experienced by private sector GDP as a whole. Distribution services were also a leading contributor to U.S. private sector employment in 2017, accounting for 21.1 percent of the private sector workforce, or 25 million full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. Wholesale trade was the largest category of distribution services, accounting for 41 percent of distribution services’ contribution to U.S. private sector GDP, followed by retail trade (39 percent). From 2016 to 2017, GDP in wholesale trade grew by roughly 2 percent, while retail trade and transportation and warehousing each grew by 4 percent.
• Distribution services encompass a wide range of activities that facilitate the movement of goods through the supply chain—from producer to end consumer.  Several industries in the distribution services sector have experienced consolidation through mergers and acquisitions over the past several years. The emergence of e-commerce over the last 10–15 years has also resulted in significant innovation in the delivery of distribution services. Further, a growing number of traditional retailers are developing the capability to analyze the data produced by customer’s interactions with their websites and apps, including data on browsing habits and purchasing activity.

The USITC hosted its 12th annual services roundtable on November 7, 2018. The discussion, summarized in the report, focused on how services trade is affected by tariffs, World Trade Organization commitments, other rules and agreements for trade in goods, and related crosscutting issues, and differences in the services economies of developed and emerging markets.

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2019 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-345, USITC publication 4975, September 2019) is available on the USITC's Internet site at https://www.usitc.gov/publications/industry_econ_analysis_332/2019/recent_trends_us_services_trade_2019_annual_report.htm.

The United States was the world's largest services market and the world's leading exporter and importer of services in 2011, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its publication Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2013 Annual Report.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, compiles the report annually. Each year's report presents a qualitative and quantitative overview of U.S. trade in services and highlights some of the service sectors and geographic markets that contribute substantially to recent services trade performance.

This year's report focuses on professional services and includes separate chapters on the education, healthcare, and legal services sectors. Each chapter analyzes global market conditions in the sector, examines recent trade performance, and summarizes the sector's outlook.

The 2013 report covers cross-border trade in services through 2011 and affiliate sales through 2010 (latest available data). Highlights of the report include:

 

• From 2010 to 2011, U.S. cross-border services exports increased by 9 percent (to $587 billion) while U.S. services imports grew by 7 percent (to $393 billion). This represents the second consecutive year of strong trade growth following the financial crisis. Professional services accounted for 21 percent of total U.S. cross-border services exports and 19 percent of cross-border imports in 2011.

   

   

• Services supplied abroad by foreign affiliates of U.S. firms continued to exceed services purchased from U.S. affiliates of foreign firms, reaching $1.1 trillion and $696 billion, respectively, in 2010. Professional services accounted for a relatively small but growing share of both sales and purchases of services through affiliates. Architectural and engineering services accounted for the largest share of professional services supplied by U.S. foreign affiliates, while advertising services led purchases from U.S. affiliates of foreign firms in 2010.

   

   

• The contribution of U.S. professional services to U.S. GDP in 2011 was $2.2 trillion, equal to 24 percent of the value added by all services and 19 percent of total private sector GDP. Professional services value added exceeded all other major services categories including distribution, financial, and electronic services in 2011. Professional services value added grew by 3 percent in 2011, faster than the average of all services (2 percent) and more than 3 times the growth of the manufacturing sector (0.8 percent) during the year. The education, healthcare, and legal services sectors are all projected to post moderate growth in the next few years.

   

   

• Professional services employed 26 million full-time-equivalent employees in 2011, equal to 26 percent of the total U.S. private sector workforce. Healthcare services accounted for 15 million of these employees. In 2011, labor productivity in professional services grew by 1 percent while average wages grew by 3 percent (to $60,368), exceeding the private sector average wage but trailing electronic and financial services. Both productivity and wages varied widely among professional services industries.

   

   

• Professional services are subject to a variety of both entry and operational trade barriers. In many cases, these barriers take the form of domestic regulations and are byproducts of a country's domestic policy objectives such as protecting and developing its indigenous workforce. Such restrictions include economic needs tests and quotas on foreign providers. Other significant barriers include limits on setting up foreign affiliates and requirements that managerial staff be either citizens or permanent residents.

   

   

• The USITC hosted its sixth annual services roundtable on November 13, 2012. The discussion, summarized in the report, covered services liberalization and regulation, and prospects for future services trade agreements.

   

Recent Trends in U.S. Services Trade, 2013 Annual Report (Investigation No. 332-345, USITC publication 4412, July 2013) is available on the USITC's Internet site at http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4412.pdf.

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