Micheline Maynard

From The New York Times, Sunday October 18, 2009

NEVADA RYAN, 35, is from a family of crop-dusters. Her grandfather, father, mother — and Ms. Ryan herself — have all spent countless hours flying planes that drop plumes of chemicals on corn and cotton fields near her hometown of Sumner, Miss.

Time spent as a child in those nimble little planes inspired her to get her pilot’s license and study engineering. But the kind of attractive job she wanted could not be found when she was attending college in Mississippi during the 1990s. So, like many others, she left the area to find employment — going first to Charleston, S.C., then to Atlanta.

In 2006, she heard of a chance to return to her home state, for a job at American Eurocopter, part of the EADS consortium, the European airplane and military equipment maker.

EADS planned to build a second plant in Columbus, Miss., and make rescue helicopters for the United States Army. Ms. Ryan applied, was hired as a flight test engineer and immediately flew to Germany for training.

Asked how she and her co-workers felt about owing their livelihoods to a company based overseas, Ms. Ryan, 35, responded, “I don’t think anybody here has a problem with it.”

As scores of companies are hemorrhaging jobs, closing plants and slashing compensation, foreign employers have become a lifeline for Ms. Ryan and millions of other Americans. While they haven’t been immune from the recession, foreign-owned companies in the United States have a work force of more than 5.3 million, or some 3.5 percent of all workers, and are spread across the 50 states in sectors from manufacturing to retail and publishing. If these jobs did not exist, the nation’s unemployment rate would be above 13 percent.

Investments in the United States by big car companies like Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz have received the greatest share of attention over the past two decades. But there are also tens of thousands of Americans working for companies like the Tata Group of India, which recently reopened the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan and makes Eight O’Clock Coffee; Haier, the Chinese appliance maker, with a refrigerator plant in South Carolina and an impressive headquarters in a landmark building in Manhattan; and Nestlé, the Swiss food company, which employs hundreds to make Nesquik and Coffee-Mate in Indiana.

Even Anheuser-Busch, America’s best-selling beer maker, is now owned by a Belgian company, InBev.

Foreign companies may touch a nerve in American society and may still be an object of fear and distrust among many, who view foreign investment as a threat to the American worker and way of life. But foreign investment isn’t simply about helping workers earn a weekly paycheck. Foreign companies that invest in the United States are having a significant — and largely positive — impact on not only the lives of workers, but also the health of the American economy and society as a whole.

When foreign companies open a factory or buy a business in a region they also stimulate local commerce and create a demand for more homes, shops, schools and restaurants. They contribute money to schools, parks and towns, and lure consultants and technicians who then provide more jobs. This ripple effect explains why governors, mayors and economic development officials are so eager for foreign investors.

Without foreign investment, says Mitch Daniels, the Republican governor of Indiana, “we’d be a Dust Bowl.”

Read more here.