THE FIRST "GREEN" ECONOMY BY CHRIS JOHNSON, ECONOMIST ECONOMIC IMPACTS M I L I T A R Y I M P A C T S CITIZEN-SOLDIER OF THE YEAR MILITARY CITIZEN OF THE YEAR ©2010 Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber 950 Pacific Avenue • Suite 300 • PO Box 1933 • Tacoma, WA 98401-1933 | www.tacomachamber.org Military Officials pages 2 & 3 Economic Impacts on page 4 It is the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber’s honor to present the 2009 Howard O. Scott Citizen-Soldier of the Year Award – this year a Citizen-Airman – to Technical Sergeant Juan Colon. TSgt. Colon has exemplary records in both his military and civilian roles. When not volunteering in the community, or working as an Air Force Reservist, he is busy at work for the Department of Homeland Security with the Camp Murray Police Department. His activities and achievement as a community volunteer are truly exemplary, having provided over 1,580 hours of community service this past year alone. TSgt. Colon is a member of the 446th Airlift Wing where he serves as a mortuary specialist dedicated to bringing American combat casualties home with dignity and honor. He is an active member of his church, the Knights of Columbus and numerous community programs. His focus is youth. He teaches our high school youth about caring for those who cannot care for themselves, and provides meals for those who cannot provide these basic needs on their own. When TSgt. Colon volunteers, it becomes a family activity and all the members of his family participate. Together, they are responsible for fundraisers, retreats, summer missions, Thanksgiving dinners, parent volunteer groups, religious programming and community donation center drives. He has spent over 450 hours working in the community food bank. He also provided blankets to shelters and made numerous visits to the sick. That includes bringing groups of young people to the Washington Soldiers Home providing appreciation for America’s heroes. About Howard O. Scott Howard Scott was a Tacoma native who served during WW II as part of “America’s Greatest Generation.” He returned to succeed as a banker, giving to community service organizations, believing and enjoying in his belief that’s doing so is a responsibility. About TriWest Healthcare Alliance When it comes to providing the best possible service to military families, TriWest takes its role very seriously. TriWest os proud that managing the TRICARE program for over 2.7 million beneficiaries is its only line of business. GET INVOLVED Photo: Scott Citizen-Airman of the Year Award recipient, TSgt. Juan Colon, accompanied by Francis Colon, and George Cargill, TriWest Healthcare Alliance. According to the Washington State Office of Financial Management, “military station strength” in Pierce County was over 28,000 in mid-year 2009. An estimated 12,300 DoD civilians¹ are also employed at Fort Lewis, Madigan Army Medical Center and McChord AFB (Joint Base Lewis-McChord). (The military figures do not include thousands of reservists not on active duty, who are paid for part-time service that may vary from two weeks per year to a week or two each month.). In comparison, manufacturing employment (the traditional base of an economy) then in Tacoma-Pierce County was less than 19,000. The structure of the Pierce County economy is unlike that of other counties nearby. Even in Kitsap County, the naval installation is primarily an industrial facility, with large numbers of civilian employees, whose employment is tracked by the place-of-work and civilian labor force employment estimates. King County has a non-military economy despite its substantial defense industries, and Thurston County is dominated by state government employment. The closest military facility in Pierce County to the Kitsap shipyards are the two RO-RO (roll on/roll off) ships (the SS Cape Island and SS Cape Intrepid), assigned to the Ready Reserve Force of the U.S. Maritime Administration, based at the Sperry Ocean Dock in Tacoma, supporting worldwide deployments from Fort Lewis. Although serviced by civilian contractors and staffed by civilian crews, these two vessels are an integral part of the transportation platform that enables the armed forces to support our national security interests anywhere a crisis or conflict may occur. Only in Pierce County are uniformed military personnel such a central component of the economy. Uniformed military personnel are not included in the employment estimates of Honored as the John Anderson Military Citizen of the Year is Master Sergeant Tabatha A. Bennett. MSgt. Bennett is currently the full-time office supervisor for the Washington Air National Guard West Recruiting Office. MSgt. Bennett volunteers as assistant coach to the Rogers High School Girls Junior Varsity Soccer Team in Puyallup, assisting with the team’s physical fitness program and helping to secure funding for future school sports programs. She also volunteers at Rogers High School with classroom support and at Kalles Junior High School providing administrative support in the front office. MSgt. Bennett is actively involved with the Washington National Guard’s Youth Program, designed for children ages 11-19, promoting high quality youth programs in conjunction with community partnerships. The program provides a better understanding of being a military child, especially during times of military deployment. MSgt. Bennett volunteers most Friday nights with the Tacoma Rescue Mission serving as a cooking and service specialist, in addition to organizing their food bank and other services. As an owner of a computer graphics, design and website business, each year she provide a free website and support to a non-profit that can’t afford design fees. There is no question that MSgt. Bennett devotes countless hours and boundless energy to improving our community, said George Cargill, award sponsor representative and Vice-Chair of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, in making the award presentation. About John H. Anderson John H. Anderson served as Tacoma’s mayor in the early to mid 1950s. He was also a past Chair of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber Board of Directors, as well as a successful local businessman. About Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber was founded in 1884. Its mission is to promote a strong business climate fostering economic opportunity and a more livable community through advocacy, networking, resources and services for business development. MSgt. Tabatha Bennett and George Cargill, TriWest Healthcare Alliance. Project Manager: Gary Brackett • Designer: Christina Kitchens • Printer: All Access Printing Visit and make your free subscription to www.C-9blog.blogspot.com to keep informed on military and defense issues focused on the Pacific Northwest. the civilian labor force. If uniformed military personnel were included in the labor force calculation for April of this year (using April 2009, station strength data), the unemployment rate in Tacoma (Pierce County) would have been 9.5 percent, rather than the reported 10.1 percent. Absent the installations, applying a standard multiplier to the military personnel and civilian Defense Department employees, and subtracting that total from the labor force, a projected employment rate of between 12 and 13 percent could be expected. (This assumes no change in the number unemployed, but that number could also go up, resulting in an even higher rate of unemployment.) Of course, it’s not that simple—military deployments during the year may have significantly changed local station strength numbers. And the definition of the “civilian labor force” that is partly responsible for the anomalous unemployment rate for Tacoma-Pierce County, reflects a legitimate labor economics concept that has been in use since World War II. But regardless of whether traditional economics consider military personnel as contributors to the nation’s GDP, the thousands of soldiers here and their millions of dollars of income are substantial contributors to our regional economy in good times and bad. ¹ DoD civilian employment is estimated from ratios of a 2002 Washington State Employment Security database compared with installations’ estimates of 2002 and 2008. Contractors (like Boeing Co. and Booz Allen Hamilton) and other non-DoD employment (like Harborstone and America’s Credit Unions) on the military installations are very difficult to determine. Temporary employment like construction firms is also difficult, and subject to reporting errors. These employment categories are not included in the discussion. Tacoma Home Loan Center 25+ years experience serving our local Military community. VA purchase or refinance. Contact our Loan Officers for a free home loan consulation. 2310 Mildred Street West Tacoma, WA 98466 (253) 564-9900 www.republic-mortgage.com