The Financial Strength of the Service Sector

I always appreciate it when someone points out the financial strength of the service sector, especially in a way that quantifies revenues in context.

Services management or marketing leaders (especially those of you whose focus has been -- ahem -- rather domestically narrow lately), take a look at today's New York Times op-ed piece, "An Order of Prosperity, To Go." Thank you, author Michael Cox!

Among the key points I found noteworthy:

• "Exports of American services have jumped by 84 percent since 2000..."
• "America ... ranks number one in global services by a wide margin."
• "We exported $144 billion more in services than we imported..."
• "Our edge ... was nearly four to one in architectural, construction and engineering services."
• "All told, the United States is competitive in 21 of 22 services trade categories."

For those of you who are globally focused (and good for you if you are), this article also suggests some ideas about how the Obama administration could more favorably position the United States' services exports globally.