WWU Faculty Release Skagit County Refinery Economic Impact Study

The Center for Economic and Business Research at Western Washington University recently released an economic impact study of the Shell Puget Sound Refinery and Tesoro Refinery located in Skagit County, Washington. 

The refineries play a very important role within not only the Skagit County economy but also within the region, said Hart Hodges, the Center’s director. 

“Skagit County reported the fastest growing Gross Domestic Product of any U.S. county in 2014, with a major impact played by the refineries,” he said.

With 825 full time workers, and more than 1,000 full-time positions if contract workers are included, the refineries in Skagit County account for roughly 2 percent of the total employment in the county. However, the refinery jobs end up supporting between 10 and 14 percent of the jobs in the county depending on whether you include the contract jobs in the initial count. Each refinery job supports an additional 4-6 jobs through increased business-to-business activity and increased household spending (with the additional wages).

The refineries also provide several hundred thousand dollars each year in charitable contributions to local nonprofits and make a significant contribution to government revenues through a variety of tax payments.

The economic impacts of the refineries are a significant portion of the Skagit economy, allowing for a more robust business community than otherwise might exist. The full report illustrating the refineries’ impact on the regional economy is available online at: http://cbe.wwu.edu/cebr/documents/skagitrefineriesimpactstudy.pdf.

This report has been prepared by the Center for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) located within the College of Business and Economics at Western Washington University.  The Center works in partnership with businesses, government entities and non-profits to bridge the resources of Western students, faculty and staff from throughout the Western Community to create high quality analysis and proposed solutions to challenges. 

For more information on the study, contact James McCafferty, assistant director, Western Washington University Center for Economic and Business Research, at (360) 650-2414 or james.mccafferty@wwu.edu.