Washington Business Summer 2018 | Washington Business | Page 37

washington business
Olympic Employment 2017
5.7%
Government
Mining, Logging and
Construction
Manufacturing
5.0%
12.5%
33.4%
7.1%
Other Private
Services
13.1%
11.6%
11.5%
Retail
Trade
Professional and
Business Services
Education and
Health Services
Leisure and
Hospitality
olympic
The Olympic region built a strong economy based on natural resources,
particularly timber. As that economy has waned, the region “struggles
with high unemployment as well as slow GDP and job growth,”
according to the BCG-Roundtable report.
Matthewson points out the contrast between the rural nature of
the Olympic region and that of, for example, the agricultural North
Central region. The recovery has been particularly challenging as the
lost timber jobs have been hard to replace. Government jobs provide
the largest share of nonfarm employment of any region in the state.
conclusion
“All politics is local,” famously said the late Tip O’Neill,
Massachusetts congressman and former speaker of the U. S.
House of Representatives. The same can be said of economic
development strategies. Understanding the nuances of
Washington’s diverse economic regions provides a basis for
understanding how best to nurture job creation and investment
throughout the state.
The benefits are obvious. The BCG -Roundtable report
estimates that “increasing job growth in underperforming
regions (Olympic, Eastern, South Central and North Central)
to the recent statewide average of 2.4 percent annually will
translate to 120,000 new jobs in addition to the 1.4 million new
jobs projected statewide by 2027.”
Investing in human capital, expanding workforce training
programs, boosting educational performance (particularly
postsecondary education), pursuing tax and regulatory policies
that encourage investment and job creation, and assuring access
to necessary infrastructure (from broadband and roads to water
and energy) are all part of the strategy. As well, policy makers
will want to encourage and cooperate with local and regional
economic development professionals and business leaders. The
network of men and women with whom the Association of
Washington Business has worked successfully through the years
to nurture economic vitality, investment and job creation are a
tremendous source of information and counsel on how to achieve
the vision of shared prosperity in all parts of Washington.
It’s an achievable — and essential — ambition.
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