Recent SSMCP Economic Study Finds JBLM’s economic impact results in 34,000 jobs statewide and 25,500 jobs in the South Sound

A collaborative partnership between UW Tacoma’s Center for Business Analytics and SSMCP concluded in June. This is the second such study between the two organizations.  Due to recent growth at Amazon and Microsoft, Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) is now the fourth-largest employer in Washington State and an essential driver to the economic momentum of Washington State and the South Sound region.

The previous analysis (completed in 2018) focused on the JBLM military and civilian workforce and their economic impact on the South Sound region.  This expanded impact analysis incorporates additional data related to military retirees, working military spouses and education-related spending (Impact Aid, Tuition Assistance, GI Bill funding).  Further, this research integrates data from previously unavailable analytic simulations (IMPLAN) that estimate direct, indirect and induced and indirect impacts and incorporates cross-region interactions.

The final impact analysis estimates that, at the state level, JBLM’s presence contributes to nearly 100,000 full-time equivalents (FTEs) who earned nearly $9B in salary/wages to produce almost $14B in gross output that translated into over $2.25 in revenue for federal, state and local governments.  In Pierce and Thurston counties, over 83,000 FTEs earned over $8.2B to generate $12.1B in total economic impact and over $2B in tax revenue.