5,000-Plus Construction Jobs Created by POLB in 2012

The Port of Long Beach says that its modernization projects created 5,166 new construction-related jobs in the region in 2012, more than 2,000 more than the number created the previous year.

The port mainly attributes the employment leap to the award of contracts for the design and building of the Gerald Desmond Bridge replacement and an ongoing terminal makeover. In 2012, Long Beach awarded a $650 million design-build contract for the bridge project and major contracts for the Middle Harbor Redevelopment Program.

“The creation of more than 5,000 new jobs is welcome news for Southern California,” Long Beach Harbor Commission President Susan Anderson Wise said. “Keep in mind that these projects are modernizing our port in order for us to stay competitive and remain a reliable economic resource that supports hundreds of thousands of permanent trade-related jobs.”

Other contracts awarded in 2012 included environmental work, security upgrades, shore power installations for terminals and other infrastructure.

The port says the job figures were calculated by examining each project to determine how many direct construction jobs are created. Estimates are then made of the spin-off jobs associated with industries that support the construction, as well as the jobs that result from construction and support industry workers spending their salaries.

The share of direct construction jobs that make up each project’s estimated job total ranges from 40 to 64 percent. The great majority of these direct jobs are located in the city of Long Beach.

In 2011, port construction contracts generated 2,985 new jobs, and in 2010, 880 were generated.
Long Beach is in the midst of a 10-year, $4.5 billion capital improvement program. Although the bridge replacement is mostly funded with state, federal and county transportation monies, the capital improvement program overall is supported primarily by the revenue generated by the shipping trade.

The port says it moves more than $155 billion in goods each year, with that cargo flow supporting over 300,000 permanent Southern California jobs.