WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Data show U.S. research and development efforts, along with jobs, are headed overseas, despite the United States' image as a breeding ground for innovation.
The Commerce Department said research and development funds spent by U.S. corporations sank by 2.2 percent in the United States to $199 billion in 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
In the same year, foreign subsidiaries of U.S. corporations increased their research funding by 7 percent to $37 billion.
The National Science Foundation said government spending on research and development has been all but unchanged since 2003 and is expected to shrink next year.
Hiring at 2,200 U.S. firms studied by the Commerce Department has followed a similar trend with U.S. hiring down 2 percent on U.S. soil and up 1 percent at the same companies' foreign subsidiaries two years ago.
In Cleveland last week, President Barack Obama proposed tackling the issue through tax laws. "Instead of tax loopholes that incentivize investment in overseas jobs, I'm proposing a ... permanent extension of the tax credit that goes to companies for all the research and innovation they do," he said.
But funding research does not guarantee jobs. "We can design things; others will build them," said Ralph Gomory, a research professor at New York University.
