To better understand the effect of the U.S. aggregates industry on the economy and jobs, the Phoenix Center released a new economic “Scorecard” entitled “The Economic Impact of the Natural Aggregates Industry: A National, State, and County Analysis.”
As the Phoenix Center’s Scorecard demonstrates, the positive effects of the aggregates industry on the U.S. economy are substantial. According to the Phoenix Center’s Scorecard, quarries are significant contributors to the economic wellbeing of the United States.
The industry generates $27 billion in annual sales and employs 100,000 skilled workers earning above-average salaries. Additionally, the industry supports $122 billion in national sales, $32 billion in national earnings (i.e., wages) and between 364,000 and 600,000 jobs across a wide range of occupations and industries.
The Phoenix Center’s Scorecard reveals that each job in the aggregates industry supports an additional 4.87 jobs throughout the economy. These jobs are widely spread across industries and occupations. Each dollar of earnings (i.e., wages) creates another $4.19 of earnings in other sectors, and each dollar of sales in the industry produces another $3.47 of sales in other industries.
The effects of the aggregates industry are both large and diverse. Sizable effects on employment and output are found also at the state and county levels. Finally, it is important to note that production in the aggregates industry is closely linked to the construction and maintenance of residential, commercial and government buildings, as well as transportation infrastructure including roads, highways, bridges, airports and railroads.
Thus, according to the Phoenix Center’s Scorecard, the growing calls to expand infrastructure spending to repair and expand the nation’s crumbling infrastructure may portend even higher demand for the aggregates industry’s outputs and, as such, will positively and materially impact jobs, earnings and sales in many sectors of the nation’s economy.
“The Economic Impact of the Natural Aggregates Industry: A National, State, and County Analysis” may be downloaded free from the Phoenix Center’s website.