When the U.S. Air Force chose Airbus, a French company, to build $40 billion worth of jet refuelers, Congress fired back that thousands of valuable jobs would be lost to the French.

That must be news to the hundreds of Airbus employees in the U.S. and to the employees of Northrop Grumman and Genertal Electric. which are also part of the winning consortium.

For all the patriotic outcry, it’s not clear that any jobs will move overseas if Airbus keeps the tanker contract. (The deal is under review by the Government Accountability Office of Congress.) French-listed company European Aeronautic Defence & Space (EADS), the parent of Airbus, counts Daimler AG and the French, Spanish and Russian governments among its shareholders. Airbus is planning to expand a plant in Mobile, Ala. that would employ 1,500 workers. In all, the consortium claims the project will mean “48,000 direct and indirect jobs nationwide”–about the same number Boeing was promising.

The Airbus battle with Boeing will no doubt keep busy scores of lobbyists and public relations types in the months to come. It also brings home a point about foreign companies buying assets, building factories or winning government business that is lost in the political rhetoric: foreign investment creates jobs–often good jobs–in the U.S.

Millions of jobs have moved offshore in the last decade, but millions more have been created or saved by foreign companies investing in the U.S. More than 5 million people–4% of the American private sector-workforce–are employed by companies headquartered overseas, primarily in Europe or Asia, according to data from the Department of Commerce. The Organization for International Investment calculates that roughly one-third of those jobs are in manufacturing, an area where the U.S. has supposedly lost its edge.

Another surprise: Foreign-owned factories based in the U.S. do more than cater to the huge American market; these businesses also export nearly $170 billion worth of goods made in this country. That’s nearly a fifth of all U.S. exports.

The Organization for International Investment put together a list of the largest foreign companies operating in the U.S. prepared by accounting and consulting firm RSM McGladrey. The list is based on annual reports, SEC filings and other company-provided data for 2006, the latest available when RSM McGladrey and OFII began compiling the list.

Foreign direct investment in the U.S. leapt 88% between 2005 and 2007 to $204 billion. The numbers could be even higher in 2008. Of course, Airbus is just one company that could be investing big in the U.S. So will German automaker BMW, with a $750 million expansion of its plant in South Carolina, and Cemex. the Mexican cement company planning a $400 million facility in Arizona. And with the U.S. dollar so weak, others may be tempted to follow.