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.'

　　中国已成为美国总统选举的焦点议题，纽约咨询公司Rhodium Group.最近又为此加上了新的转折。

　　据Rhodium估计，美国境内的中资企业目前提供了2.7万个就业机会。只要美国鼓励这种投资，这个数字势必还会增加。

　　Rhodium分析师哈纳曼(Thilo Hanemann)说，Rhodium统计了2000年以来600笔中国投资创造的就业机会，这些投资既包括收购现有企业，也包括创立新的公司。他说，对于少数企业，我们不得不根据同行业规模相当的企业的已知就业状况估算。Rhodium估计，五年前美国境内中资企业的雇工数量不到1万人。

　　相比日资企业在美国创造的就业岗位（据Rhodium估计有70万），2.7万个岗位也构不成多大一个选民群体。但这只是起步。美国商界领袖长期劝告中国商界增加投资并雇用美国人。他们说，美国国会议员下次考虑是否因为贸易问题、汇率措施、或中国其他让美国人不满的做法而惩罚中国时，中国在美国增加投资和招聘的因素势必会影响他们的想法。

　　日本通过加大在美国就业岗位方面的投资，帮助扭转了它在美国的形象。美国议员敲打日本汽车行业已经过去很久，两国贸易争端很少失控。今天与东京存在纠葛的是中国消费者和中国政府，不是美国人。

　　但很难说美国肯定会非常希望给予中国增加投资的机会。奥巴马最近出于国家安全考虑，决定禁止一家中资企业收购俄勒冈州的风电场。与此同时，华为等电信公司也被怀疑是中国政府的情报监测站，中国国有企业常常被认为是出于政治意图、而非经济目的行事。

　　哈纳曼说，有人担心，中国投资对美国就业的影响可能不会像来自其他国家的外商直接投资(FDI)一样积极，因为中国国有制度和产业政策可能导致企业收购海外资产后只会将工作岗位和生产带回国内。他说，我们的数据显示来自中国的FDI对美国就业发挥了积极作用。