Bigger Than Taylor Swift

How big is the global trade and supply chain sector in Washington state? It’s big. Really big. Our recent update to the Economic Analysis of the Sector quantifies just how large. But it also provides all sorts of other data, including on the types of jobs, where they are located and what wages they pay.

It’s one of the larger and more important sectors in Washington State. In the movie, The Godfather, a mafioso says to Michael Corleone, we’re bigger than U.S. Steel. And that’s technically true about the WA global trade and supply chain sector which employs far more people than U.S. Steel…and didn’t have to whack any body to do it.

But U.S. Steel isn’t that big anymore, so more relevant to today’s times, it’s bigger than Taylor Swift. She sells out stadiums, but the capacity at Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park combined still isn’t enough to hold the number of people in Washington working in this sector.

Just over 179,000 people work in the sector in Washington state. That’s a big sector. These jobs can be found in every nook and corner of the state but the counties with the most jobs are King, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane, Yakima, Clark and Whatcom. In other words, all over the state.

One of the key steps the economic analysis takes is to define the sector. Ask a dozen people to define the sector and you’ll get a baker’s dozen number of answers. Our economic analysis breaks the sector into three segments as you can see in the graphic below: a) transportation, distribution and logistics; b) supply chain management; and c) supply chain services. Within these three segments are a variety of subsectors and activities.

Importantly, these jobs are good paying jobs, in many categories paying six figures. And not only are they good paying jobs, they are work that any one of us can be trained to do. You don’t need a PhD or have to be a software programmer to do these jobs. You can get a two-year or four-year degree, or in some case just a certificate, and earn a good family wage.

And those 179,000 jobs? About 96,000 of them are what we call “all-in jobs,” that is jobs at companies whose main focus is supply chains, so freight forwarders, transloading companies and warehouses. Expeditors International or Lynden Logistics are examples of these types of companies.

Another 83,000 jobs are at companies whose main focus is not supply chains. So, for example, Boeing or Microsoft or Starbucks. That coffee doesn’t arrive by itself. There’s a supply chain for it. In fact, almost all companies have a supply chain of one sort or another.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour may be ending later this year, but the Washington State global trade and supply chain era continues, providing workers good jobs and the rest of us products and components that enrich our lives.

The update to the economic analysis was done by Spencer Cohen at High Peak Strategies. Again, here’s is a link to the strategy.