[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 161 (Tuesday, October 23, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SERVICES INDUSTRY

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON KLEIN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 23, 2007

  Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the 
buoyant U.S. services industry, an unsung American success story that 
will continue to ensure that our workforce is second to none in the 
global economy of the future.
  Services impact every village, town, city, and State all across this 
country in nearly every sector of the economy. Just think about the 
services we all rely on: lawyers, doctors, bankers, insurance agents, 
accountants, nurses, college professors, restaurant workers, web 
designers, and software engineers. And there are many more service 
workers who touch our lives every day.
  What is often lost in attention-grabbing headlines is that the United 
States has run a large trade surplus in services since 1971 with almost 
90 percent of the $72 billion surplus generated by business and 
professional services.
  Services accounted for 77.8 percent of U.S. private sector gross 
domestic product in 2005, or $8.5 trillion. The services industry 
remains the engine of growth in our economy and we must not take our 
eye off the ball.
  The United States is also the world's largest and most competitive 
exporter of services. We have enjoyed surpluses in the services sector 
since the 1970s because U.S. companies are exporting a wide range of 
high-value services around the world that other nations value, like 
financial services, express package delivery, web hosting, or software 
design. We are second to none in the services sector against our 
international competitors. To keep our lead, we need to strive for fair 
and open markets around the world so that we can sell these services in 
other countries.
  Close to 400 congressional districts have 70 percent or more of their 
workforce employed in the services industry. By 2012,19.2 million new 
services jobs will be created, which would account for 90 percent of 
all new job creation, according to the Coalition of Service Industries. 
This is a phenomenal achievement and clearly where our workforce of the 
future will come from.
  In my home State of Florida and in my congressional district, some 85 
percent of all our jobs stem from a wide variety of services. And we're 
growing. In 2002, there were 5.5 million Floridians involved in 
services employment. That number grew to 5.9 million by 2005. Between 
2004 and 2005, Florida's exports of services grew 13 percent to $23 
billion.
  Services are being used in areas that we could hardly dream of just a 
decade ago. With today's fast-changing technology, services are 
provided around the globe--24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For instance, 
IBM, one of my constituents which employs nearly 1,200 highly skilled 
workers at its Boca Raton facility, is providing a host of innovative 
services from its south Florida hub, such as network services, 
integrated technology services, and e-business hosting.
  To give you an example of the IBM skill set, the company is testing 
speech translation-based products in my district. One of the products 
currently undergoing testing is a ``speech to speech'' voice 
recognition translator with two-way real-time speech capability. IBM is 
donating this key technology to the U.S. Government to translate 
between Iraqi Arabic and English.
  A user speaks into the system in one language, their speech is 
recognized, translated, and spoken in another language using a 
combination of IBM technologies. They are also donating 1,000 laptops 
or handheld devices plus 10,000 software licenses to support better 
communication between the U.S. military, Iraqi citizens, and aid 
organizations in Iraq. We sincerely appreciate this type of corporate 
commitment to our community.
  Services are making the world more connected, allowing producers, 
consumers, and everyone in between to communicate and collaborate 
quickly and easily in every comer of the globe. Our service industries 
are constantly providing new ways to innovate, both here and abroad, to 
grow our economy.
  I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to recognize the 
impact and importance of this growing, vital sector to our economy and 
to keep fair and open markets that service providers need to achieve 
even greater success in the skills-based knowledge economy of the 
future.

                          ____________________