Just how much do activities like boating, fishing and hunting contribute to the U.S. economy? About as much value as the state of Maryland adds, new data show.
The U.S. Commerce Department released data this week for the first time quantifying how much outdoor recreation contributed to economic output in 2016, finding the sector accounted for 2% of gross domestic product, or $373.7 billion.
What’s more, growth in the outdoor recreation economy well outpaced broader GDP growth in 2016, rising 3.8% compared with 2.8% overall.
“That’s the key point when rural communities are thinking about putting dollars toward recreation infrastructure….[They're] going to return in terms of economic growth and job growth,” said Amy Roberts, executive director for the Outdoor Industry Association, which produces a separate report on the outdoor recreation economy.
The value of outdoor recreation tracked by the Commerce Department captures a broad range of activity. Take a fishing trip. This measure would track everything from the manufacture of a fishing rod and the production of boat fuel to its purchase by an angler. It would include the cost of a fishing license and even the salary of a park ranger.
While much of this economic activity takes place before anglers get to their fishing hole, rural communities benefit economically from job creation, which includes outfitters, and sales of items like fishing gear.
The report is the latest in the Commerce Department’s series of satellite accounts, which includes, for instance, a report on arts and cultural production. The agency said these accounts are intended to look at a specific area of the economy in closer detail without changing officially reported GDP statistics.
Among outdoor recreation activities, motorized vehicles—mainly RVs—accounted for the bulk of output, generating $59.4 billion. Boating and fishing activities grew 4% from a year earlier, clocking in at $38.2 billion in 2016.
The economic value of outdoor recreation also differed between industries. Retail trade, accommodation and food services, and manufacturing were the biggest contributors to outdoor recreation output in 2016. Employment varied according to industry, with arts-and-entertainment and food-services jobs accounting for the lion’s share of outdoor jobs, which Ms. Roberts said are less cyclical than mining or drilling jobs, helping to sustain economic growth.
But Americans’ passion for the great outdoors may sometimes be more ideal than reality. The category accounting for the greatest share of core outdoor recreation output wasn’t a sport or activity, but purchases of outdoor gear.
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from Real Time Economics http://ift.tt/2o18tWt
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