LEARN / GLOSSARY
Reshoring
Returning production that had previously moved abroad back to the home country. The term answers a question about location and says nothing about how much capacity exists.
Definition
Reshoring returns production to the home country from abroad, implying a prior departure. It is distinct from onshoring, which sites production domestically without any prior departure, and from nearshoring, which moves production closer to the destination market while leaving it outside the country.
How it is measured
The most widely cited American figures come from the Reshoring Initiative, which has maintained a case database since 2010 and reported 244,000 manufacturing jobs announced through reshoring and foreign direct investment in 2024.
Measurement noteThe Reshoring Initiative states that job numbers are based on company announcements of current, recent, or future hiring, and that actual hiring typically lags announcements by 12 to 24 months. The series counts intentions with a stated lag. It is not an employment measure and cannot be compared with one.
Why this matters for capacity
Final assembly can return while components, tooling and materials continue to arrive from abroad. Production location changes and productive capacity moves very little, which is why reshoring counts and capacity are separate questions.
Related terms
Value added · Industrial base · Deindustrialization
Appears in
Reshoring, Onshoring, Nearshoring
What Is Reindustrialization?
Read next
Reshoring, Onshoring, Nearshoring
Sources
- Reshoring Initiative, 2024 Annual Report. reshorenow.org
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, series CES3000000001. fred.stlouisfed.org