About 500 companies in the Dominican Republic manufacture goods primarily for the North American market. Situated in 50 industrial free zones around the country, these mostly foreign-owned corporations take advantage of generous tax and other financial inducements offered by the government to businesses that operate within the zones. Approximately 200,000 people, or about 8 percent of the workforce, are employed in this sector. They mostly produce clothing, electronic components, footwear, and leather goods, which are assembled. The raw materials or semi-manufactured goods are usually imported duty-free from other emerging markets (electronic parts are imported from industrialized Puerto Rico) and assembled in the free trade zones. Products include cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, textiles, perfumes & foodstuffs. The value of free-trade-zone exports amounted to US$6.2 billion in 2019, while their imports of intermediate products amounted to US$4 billion.