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View Full Version : Marine Industry Havasu...but nothing to do with tourists ?



PBOCOP
04-21-2006, 08:33 PM
http://www.havasunews.com/articles/2006/04/21/news/news02.txt
News-Herald Photo/L.J. Frink Boats are parked outside the 158 recently-built storage units at Campbell Boats while the sprinkler system is tested. The local marine industry has added $191 million annually to the local economy.
With Lake Havasu at our toes, the marine industry has contributed a great deal to the local economy. In fact, the economic output is estimated to be $191 million annually.
In association with the Partnership for Economic Development, the Lake Havasu City Marine Association hired Research Economist Tom Tveidt of Competitive Strategies Group, LLC, to conduct an analysis of the core marine industry in Lake Havasu City. The 28-page report was delivered to City Council last week.
“For every job in the marine industry, several other jobs benefit from it,” said Tveidt. “It's not just an isolated industry.”
Tveidt used nothing but data collected from state and federal sources.
“It's all raw data to be as objective as possible,” he said.
Tveidt hit several points in his executive summary that PED Economic Specialist James Gray noted weren't really that visible until they were pointed out, including annual payroll, wage levels, economic growth and tax revenues.
Tourism was not included due to its subjective factors, according to Tveidt, and would be subject to bias; and open to too much interpretation.
“This study shows numbers that are guaranteed,” said Gray. “We can use this to attract more marine-related business to Lake Havasu City.
The numbers reflect sales, shipments, wages and other non-tourism factors in the core marine industry. The core marine industry consists of several groups, boat manufacturers, sales, rental and storage and the maintenance sector.
“It's just the industry around boats,” said Tveidt.
PED Executive Director Gary Kellogg said he will use the study to help focus on the “nuts and bolts” of the industry when going out to recruit new marine business.
By the numbers, the industry employs more than 900 people with an annual payroll of $29.6 million that results in an annual economic output of $191.1 million, according to the study.
Wages in the industry are about 17 percent more than the local average wage, $15.96 per hour compared to $13.65 an hour countywide.
By comparison, the study shows the average wage in the local construction industry is $14.35 per hour and health care workers average between $8.75 and $12.96 an hour with only licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses earning more than $16 per hour.
In the last five years, there has been a 91 percent increase in boat building, according to the study, and the total economic impact of the core industry equals 1,401 jobs each year that are impacted directly or indirectly.
Both Kellogg and Gray said they were stunned at the numbers presented even though they knew the marine industry was a large factor locally.
“Everybody kind of knows what kind of businesses are around here,” said Gray. “You drive by them every day but once the facts came out, it was quite stunning.”
“The study speaks for itself,” said Kellogg. “We have a cluster industry here.”