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A national report released today offers the Greensboro-High Point metro area a way to help it climb out of the deepest economic hole the region has encountered since the Great Depression.

The report from the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, says the nation “can and must” produce more exports, which in turn will create more good-paying jobs, boost the economy and improve competitiveness.

“People have to focus on exports, which is a strength in Greensboro,” said Emilia Istrate, a senior research analyst at Brookings and a co-author of the report. “Greensboro has historically had a strong export sector.”

The report, called “Export Nation,” supports that claim. It ranks the nation’s 100 largest metro areas on a variety of categories based on 2008 data, the most recent year for which figures are available.

The findings show that the Greensboro-High Point area, which includes Guilford, Rockingham and Randolph counties:

• Exported 17 percent of what it produced that year, the seventh highest total among the top 100 metros.

Overall, the nation’s largest metros export about 10.3 percent of their production. That compares to the national average of 11.4 percent.

• Created more than 42,000 export-related positions. That translates to 11.2 percent of the region’s jobs, or the 12th highest percentage among the large metros.

The report says circumstances favor metro areas with a higher percentage of jobs from exports and/or ones which export a higher percentage of their overall production.

They “are in a stronger position to take advantage of growing global demand and so improve their economic circumstances more quickly,” it says.

The report also shows the area sent 9.2 percent of its exports to Brazil, India and China. That was the 19th highest percentage among the top metros.

That also bodes well for the local area because future export growth will come from such large, emerging markets, the report says.

In addition, the report identifies the area’s leading export industries as chemicals, computer and electronic products, royalties from intellectual properties, transportation equipment and machinery.

“Those are driving your exports,” Istrate said. “People should figure out how they can support these industries ... or how they can do it better.”

Exporters and governmental officials reacted in a similar fashion when told of the report’s findings.

“Wow!” said John Schmonsees, director of the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Greensboro. “We have always been quite active .... We’ve had products that would satisfy needs in foreign markets.”

The report confirms that the area still has a strong manufacturing base, despite the loss of thousands of jobs in the textile, furniture and tobacco industries over recent decades.

It pointed out that manufacturing industries are the most export oriented and would tend to send a higher percentage of its products over seas.

As for the recession, Schmonsees said it didn’t hurt the local export market. Just the opposite.

“What it has done is encouraged more exports,” he said. “It has encouraged more companies to come to us to assist them in identifying new markets and new opportunities. They realize they can’t sit back and depend on the domestic market. They see a need to look elsewhere.”

The report identified some of the area’s leading export companies as Unifi Inc., Banner Pharmacaps Inc., Tyco Electronics, RF Micro Devices and Thomas Built Buses.

Jerry Neal, co-founder and executive vice president of strategic development at RF Micro, said his company makes more than 1,000 different products, but is best known for making microchips for cell phones.

He said about 80 percent of what the company produces goes abroad.

“We live on exports,” Neal said. “Most of our largest customers are outside the United States.”

Neal believes there’s room for continued export growth as the company diversifies into other applications.

Such a development would help correct one of the report’s more negative findings.

Recent export growth in this area remains below the national average, expanding at only 7.1 percent between 2003 and 2008. That ranks 69th among the nation’s largest metros.

“You have to see this not as a weakness but as an opportunity,” said Istrate, one of the report’s co-authors. “There are more ways you can maximize your export potential.”

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com