Port's Regional Economic Impact Strong

More than 400,000 Jobs Tied to Port Activity

The Port of Seattle remains one of the Puget Sound region's strongest engines for sustained economic growth, generating tens of thousands of jobs with billions of dollars in wages, business revenues and tax revenues. That's the conclusion of a major economic analysis set for release by Port of Seattle Commissioners at their Thursday, Sept. 7 work session.

The total sum of the wages and salaries for these jobs in 1999 exceeded $5 billion, while business revenues topped $11.9 billion. State and local tax coffers were enriched by more than $606 million, while more than $421 million in federal aviation taxes were collected.

"The Port is clearly one of the most important creators of new jobs in this region -- a region that has more jobs linked with international trade than anywhere else in the nation," said Port Executive Director M. R. Dinsmore. "We see our role as essential as we continue strengthening the economic ties with our trading partners and create more jobs here at home."

Port Commission President Jack Block noted that the average wage supported by the Port's seaport operations, more than $48,000 per year, is well above the King County-wide average.

"Creating family-wage jobs and building stronger communities is what the Port of Seattle is all about, and this study confirms our success," he said. "We're working together with our partners in business, labor, government and the community to sustain our region's outstanding economic vitality."

Specific economic impacts generated by waterborne activity in the Seattle seaport, passenger and air cargo activity at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac), and the economic impacts generated by other operations, including Fishermen's Terminal and Shilshole Bay Marina include:

More than 83,000 direct jobs, including longshoremen and freight forwarders on the seaport, and jobs with airlines and retail concessions at the airport.
More than 40,000 induced jobs. These are created throughout the local economy because individuals directly employed due to seaport and airport activity spend their wages locally on goods and services.
More than 31,200 local indirect jobs. These are created regionally from purchasing goods and services by firms, not individuals, and include office supplies and equipment, and maintenance and repair services.
More than 400,000 related jobs. This is an estimate of the number of jobs in firms using seaport and airport facilities for importing and exporting goods, including toy manufacturers and retail stores.

Business revenue for the Port's marine cargo and vessel handling terminals exceeded $1.58 billion, an increase of about $607 million from 1993. Wages and salaries of the direct jobs topped $363.1 million in 1999, compared to $276.2 million in 1993, an increase of $86.9 million. State and local taxes in 1999 totaled more than $107 million.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport served 27.7 million passengers in 1999, compared to about 18 million passengers in 1993, while air cargo movement increased from 292,070 metric tons in 1993 to about 450,000 metric tons in 1999.

Business revenue at Sea-Tac exceeded $6.89 billion in 1999, compared to $2.93 billion in 1993. Wages and salaries of the direct jobs was about $655 million, compared to about $487 million in 1993. Additionally, state and local taxes topped $606.7 million in 1999, while federal aviation taxes exceeded $421 million.

Fishermen's Terminal, homeport to the North Pacific fishing fleet, generated more than $161 million in 1999, up from $145 million in 1993.

Not included in the 1999 analysis are the positive economic impacts of Seattle's growing cruise ship business. The Port's Bell Street Pier Cruise Terminal at Pier 66, completed in the spring of 2000, is expecting to have 36 cruise ship visits with more than 120,000 passengers in 2000. This new line of business is expected to mean more than 550 new jobs, as well as an estimated $23.8 million in business revenue, plus more than $2.7 million in state and local taxes. The number of cruise ship visits in 2001 is expected to increase to about 50.

The importance of the Port of Seattle as a regional economic generator is underscored by comparison with other leading area employers. Excluding the 53,365 direct visitor industry jobs, the Port's marine facilities and Sea-Tac generated nearly 30,000 jobs. This direct impact compares to the 88,000 employees with Boeing, 17,000 employees of the University of Washington, and the 14,260 employees of Microsoft.

The study was conducted by Martin Associates, the same firm that measured the Port's economic impacts in 1987 and in 1993. Martin Associates has used the same methodology to estimate the economic impacts generated by seaport activity at more than 90 U.S. and Canadian seaports, and more than 20 airports in the United States.