The Port of Oakland helps sustain thousands of regional jobs as well as hundreds of thousands more jobs across the US, according to the results of a newly-released economic impact study.
The study’s key findings are central to a new jobs brochure, “Powering Jobs, Empowering Communities,” that the port unveiled April 5 to illustrate its positive economic impacts.
“The Port of Oakland is a jobs-creating powerhouse and we wanted to put a human face on the over 73,000 jobs in the region that are powered by the port,” port Board President Pamela Calloway said regarding the new brochure.
The study, which was conducted by Martin Associates and based on 2010 data and collected and analyzed in 2011, found that the port generated over $671 million in tax revenue in 2010 and $1.5 billion in wages for 37,116 direct job holders that year.
It also found that nearly one in five direct jobs created by the port is held by an Oakland resident and that more than half of port’s direct jobs belong to residents of Alameda County. Over 30,000 trade-related jobs in the California Central Valley are connected to the port as well, according to the study.
“Port business drives job creation – specifically more cargo, more passengers, more infrastructure projects, and more tenants,” Oakland’s Executive Director, Omar Benjamin, said. “That’s why the port is focused aggressively on its core businesses.”
The Port of Oakland includes the seaport, 20 miles of waterfront and Oakland International Airport. The Port of Oakland receives no local tax dollars, but instead, generates tax revenue from its three business lines: maritime, commercial real estate and aviation.
For every 1,000 containers imported or exported at the seaport, eight direct jobs are supported, according to the study, and the port’s commercial real estate powers nearly eight percent of the region’s 73,000-plus port-related jobs.
The port’s new jobs brochure and a PowerPoint presentation on the 2010 Economic Impact Report are available at www.portofoakland.com/poweringjobs.
