Greetings, Seattle Metro Chamber members,

We punch above our weight with the number of global companies whose history started in Washington state. The lineage of innovators and entrepreneurs began more than 100 years ago when William E. Boeing founded Pacific Aero Products Company in Seattle. He came to the Northwest to be part of the timber industry, and his success in it led him to start a company in Seattle that we know as Boeing today.  Since then, the lineage has continued with Starbucks, Microsoft, Amazon, and many others who chose Washington as the place to start their business.

Today, Washington state is the global capital of the aerospace industry, with Boeing at its cornerstone. We implicitly understand the value the industry contributes and appreciate the work our colleagues, neighbors, and friends at Boeing are doing every day to help the company recover from the challenges the industry has faced the last several years.

Last winter, the Chamber asked an economic research firm, Community Attributes Inc., to prepare an aerospace report as a follow-up to our 2018 Aerospace Local & Regional Impacts Report. This is part of our ongoing research to gain critical insights about the key industries in our region so that the Chamber can advocate for what they need to thrive and grow.

Here are three takeaways from our latest report I don’t want you to miss:

First, the impact of the aerospace industry on Washington’s economy is hard to understate. The report showed us the industry generates $71 billion in business revenues, which supports 194,000 jobs directly and many more indirectly. These are good paying jobs, with the industry paying $19.4 billion in worker wages in 2023. The industry pays over $580 million in taxes to the state, which supports parks, roads, and schools. The study found that every dollar of direct business revenue relates to a total of $1.40 in economic activity throughout the state, each job representing a total of 2.5 jobs economywide.

Second, this report found that the industry uplifts small businesses in significant ways through employees’ support for local restaurants, retailers, health services, and much more.

Breaking it down locally:

  • Aerospace employees in the Lynnwood-Everett region spent nearly $36.5 million on automobile purchases, equivalent to 1,160 cars sold, or the combined sales at approximately four dealerships in the area.
  • In the Auburn-Renton region, aerospace workers were responsible for an estimated 2.4% of all restaurant sales, directly supporting 420 restaurant jobs or the equivalent of 35 restaurants.
  • Aerospace employees in the Lynnwood-Everett region spent more than $147.7 million on health care, supporting 680 health care jobs and the equivalent of 35 clinics.
  • Retail sales spending by aerospace workers in the Seattle and Eastside region was just shy of an estimated $270 million, which sustained more than 1 million square feet of retail space in the region.

And third, I’m not an aerospace insider, but what I can say is I hope that in five years we can publish this report again and see all the lines moving in the right direction. This report shows that we are on that path. In just the first six months of this year, 4,400 jobs were added to the industry for a total of 81,800 jobs. New Boeing orders and unfilled orders reached a five-year peak in 2023 at 1,456 new orders, and as of June 30, 2024, Boeing’s official unfilled order total reached 6,156 planes. This backlog provides confidence in the future of the industry.

As this report shows, this industry’s growth will support restaurants, hospitals, schools, retailers – everyone. I’m excited to have more conversations with our member companies in the aerospace sector to hear their thoughts on how the industry should or will evolve in the coming years.

Let’s continue these conversations in person – please join me at our 142nd Annual Meeting from 3:00-5:30 p.m. on Sep. 12 in Seattle, featuring our keynote speaker University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce.

See you soon,
Rachel