The St. Mary’s Challenger steamboat near Sleeping Bear Point, Michigan via Creative Commons
By Amanda Proscia
The water-dependent economy of the Great Lakes states grew much faster than other sectors of the domestic economy in 2012, according to a recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The report broke water-based industries into marine construction, living resources, offshore mineral extraction, ship and boat building, tourism and recreation and marine transportation. It examined the number of employees, wages, and gross domestic product (GDP) created from each.
Michigan was the top state in the U.S. for water-dependent employment growth. It grew 8 percent in 2012, nearly four times the national average, the report said.
“There was significant job loss in Michigan during the recession, more so than other Great Lakes states, and I think that this report just shows the resilience of these water-based sectors of the economy and their importance to the state’s overall economy,” said Emily Finnell, Great Lakes policy specialist for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
One in five Michigan jobs are tied to water or water innovation, according to John Austin, director of the Michigan Economic Center, a network focused on increasing Michigan’s role in the U.S.’s economic growth.
Michigan’s overall Gross Domestic Product increased $238 million from 2011 to 2012, about 10 percent. Economic experts point to tourism as the key to the state’s water-related economic growth.
“Michigan’s GDP increase is linked to the tourism and recreation sector,” said Jeffrey Adkins, an economist for NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management. “It’s a matter of that sector being affected so adversely by the economic downturn and then recovering so well.”
Illinois led the Great Lakes states in total water-related GDP increase, about $315 million or 5.3 percent from 2011 to 2012. The GDP was measured by the monetary value of all goods and services in the various water-based industry sectors.
Economists say the water-based economic growth in the Great Lakes region reflect the ecology of the water.
“A lot of the Great Lake-dependent sectors, tourism and recreation and commercial fishing for instance, are really dependent on the health of the Great Lakes,” Adkins said. “The Great Lakes economic growth in 2012 could not have happened if the Lakes were ecologically unhealthy.”
“The two go together,” Austin said. “When you clean the water and make it available to public use, it enhances the demand to be on the water.”
Every dollar spent on Great Lakes restoration creates three dollars in economic impact for Great Lakes states, Austin said.
Overall, the Great Lakes region’s water-dependent GDP increased almost $2 billion, with the highest increase coming from the water-based tourism and recreation sector.
“Great Lakes dependent jobs account for about 300,000 employees and over $16 billion in GDP,” said Adkins, noting that the Great Lakes dependent economic sector has more value than the electric power generation, telecommunication and home construction industries combined.
Other Great Lakes states overall water-based GDP increase from 2011 to 2012:
- Indiana: $79.1 million, or 10 percent
- Minnesota: $79.2 million or 7.7 percent
- Ohio: $101 million or 5.4 percent
- Pennsylvania: $74.5 million or 2.9 percent
- Wisconsin: $32.5 million or 1.9 percent
Read the full report here.
Related story: Water activity in Great Lakes States