California

Ports or port activities create an estimated 930,000 jobs in California, directly or indirectly.  More than 90,000 jobs are directly created through port operations such as loading or unloading cargo.  The other 840,000 jobs either support the activities at the ports (e.g. repair services), are linked to the ports activities (e.g. trucking, couriers, warehousing), or are induced by all of these activities (e.g. housing, food, healthcare).  All those jobs have a big impact on the local level:

  • The combined activities of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach involve more than 38,000 firms employing 548,278 individuals in port-linked jobs – over 9 percent of total employment in the Los Angeles basin.
  • An estimated 10 percent of all retail jobs in the five-county region surrounding the Port of Long Beach are related to port activity and 5 percent of all retail jobs in the state are associated with the port.
Ports-related employers annually pay an estimated $34 billion in wages, salaries and employee benefits.  In turn, those wages are used to consume products and services around the state, keeping our economy running.  The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles alone account for employee compensation of almost $23 billion.  Another $10 billion in employee compensation is paid related to activities at the ports of Oakland and San Francisco.  And the Port of San Diego generates another $1.8 billion in wages, salaries and benefits.

Washington 

Close to a million Washington citizens – about a third of the workforce – have jobs supported directly or indirectly by international trade. 

Approximately 60,000 jobs are directly related to activities at Washington’s ports.  People are employed as:

  • Electricians
  • Engineers
  • Forklift drivers
  • Freight forwarders
  • Government inspectors
  • Laborers
  • Lawyers
  • Longshoremen
  • Mechanics
  • Security personnel
  • Ship pilots
  • Train operators
  • Truck drivers
  • Tug boat operators 

Jobs based on the waterfront are just the beginning.  People who earn wages in the trade industry contribute to employment in other sectors through their savings and purchases. 

Around the state, more than 200,000 workers are employed producing goods or services to be sold abroad.  Export production supports more than 18 percent of all jobs in eastern Washington and 13 percent in western Washington.  These are good-paying jobs: a study conducted for the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development found that, overall, workers in these jobs are paid almost 50 percent above the state average. 

These export producing jobs in turn create many supporting jobs throughout the state.