I didn't realize, though, that it was this much.

Minnesota�s manufactured exports climbed to a record high of $15 billion in 2006, growing by 10.1 percent � or just more than $1.4 billion � over the previous year.

Manufactured goods made up 62 percent of Minnesota�s estimated $24.2 billion in total exports for the year. The export total also includes an estimated $7.1 billion in services (or 29 percent of total exports) and an estimated $1.9 billion in agricultural commodities (or 9 percent of total exports).

Most of the growth happened in the first half of the year. And this all sounds good until you read the full report. Here's the lead paragraph:

Minnesota�s manufactured exports soared to $15.2 billion in 2006, growing by $1.4 billion between 2005 and 2006. Minnesota�s export growth rate was 10.1 percent, the 13th fastest growth rate among the 20 largest exporting states. The U.S. export growth rate was 14.5 percent, paced by extremely rapid growth by states such as Washington (45.5 percent) and New Jersey (29.8 percent). Minnesota accounted for 1.6 percent of U.S. manufactured exports and ranked 19th largest among states in 2006.

So while the news story says we exported more, it turns out we're not doing as well as other states.

Minnesota state GDP was $232 billion in 2005 (we don't have 2006 data yet.) Manufacturing is $32 billion, so nearly half of the manufacturing sector's output is going out of the country. About 12% of the workforce is in manufacturing.

Labels: economics, Minnesota