How Many U.S. Jobs Has China Created? Rhodium Offers an Estimate

　　With China playing a front-and-center role in the U.S. presidential election, Rhodium Group, a New York consultingfirm, recently added a new twist.

　　According to its estimates, Chinese-owned firms in the U.S. nowaccount for about 27,000 U.S. jobs -- a number that is boundto increase so long as the U.S. encourages such investment.

　　Thilo Hanemann, a Rhodium analyst, said his firm counted the jobs created by 600 Chineseinvestments since 2000, including acquisitions of existing firms and creation of new ones. 'For a fewfirms we had to use estimates based on known employment at firms of similar size and industry,' hesaid. Five years ago, Chinese-owned firms in the U.S. employed fewer than 10,000, Rhodiumestimates.

　　While 27,000 jobs isn't much of a constituency, compared to what Rhodium estimates are the 700,000 U.S. jobs created by Japanese-owned companies, it's a start. U.S. business leaders havelong urged their Chinese counterparts to boost their investment and hire Americans. Doing so, thebusinessmen say, is bound to affect the thinking of U.S. lawmakers the next time they think aboutpenalizing China for trade issues, currency measures or any of the myriad other Chinese practicesthat rankle Americans.

　　Japan helped turn around its image in the U.S. by investing more heavily in American jobs. It'sbeen a long time since American lawmakers took a hammer to Japanese cars and trade disputesbetween the two countries rarely get out of hand. These days, it's Chinese consumers and theChinese government that have problems with Tokyo, not Americans.

　　It's hardly a given, however, that the U.S. will be eager to give China the chance to boostinvestment. President Obama decided recently to block a Chinese-owned firm from owning windfarms in Oregon because of national security reasons. Meanwhile, telecom firms like Huawei aresuspected of acting as listening posts for the Chinese government, and state-owned Chinese firmsare often seen as following political, not economic agendas.

　　'There are fears that investment from China could not have the same positive impact on jobs asforeign direct investment from other countries because (Chinese) state ownership and China'sindustrial policy might lead its firms to acquire assets overseas only to move jobs and productionback home,' said Mr. Hanemann. 'Our data shows that FDI from China is positive for employment.'

　　中國已成為美國總統選舉的焦點議題，紐約咨詢公司Rhodium Group.最近又為此加上了新的轉折。

　　據Rhodium估計，美國境內的中資企業目前提供了2.7萬個就業機會。只要美國鼓勵這種投資，這個數字勢必還會增加。

　　Rhodium分析師哈納曼(Thilo Hanemann)說，Rhodium統計了2000年以來600筆中國投資創造的就業機會，這些投資既包括收購現有企業，也包括創立新的公司。他說，對于少數企業，我們不得不根據同行業規模相當的企業的已知就業狀況估算。Rhodium估計，五年前美國境內中資企業的雇工數量不到1萬人。

　　相比日資企業在美國創造的就業崗位（據Rhodium估計有70萬），2.7萬個崗位也構不成多大一個選民群體。但這只是起步。美國商界領袖長期勸告中國商界增加投資并雇用美國人。他們說，美國國會議員下次考慮是否因為貿易問題、匯率措施、或中國其他讓美國人不滿的做法而懲罰中國時，中國在美國增加投資和招聘的因素勢必會影響他們的想法。

　　日本通過加大在美國就業崗位方面的投資，幫助扭轉了它在美國的形象。美國議員敲打日本汽車行業已經過去很久，兩國貿易爭端很少失控。今天與東京存在糾葛的是中國消費者和中國政府，不是美國人。

　　但很難說美國肯定會非常希望給予中國增加投資的機會。奧巴馬最近出于國家安全考慮，決定禁止一家中資企業收購俄勒岡州的風電場。與此同時，華為等電信公司也被懷疑是中國政府的情報監測站，中國國有企業常常被認為是出于政治意圖、而非經濟目的行事。

　　哈納曼說，有人擔心，中國投資對美國就業的影響可能不會像來自其他國家的外商直接投資(FDI)一樣積極，因為中國國有制度和產業政策可能導致企業收購海外資產后只會將工作崗位和生產帶回國內。他說，我們的數據顯示來自中國的FDI對美國就業發揮了積極作用。