Military has $3.5 billion impact locally

U.S. military operations in Charleston, Dorchester and Berkeley counties account for 29,760 direct jobs and a total annual economic impact of $3.5 billion, according to the 2006 Charleston Area Military Economic Impact Report released today.

The report was produced by the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Business Research and the Center for Economic Forecasting at Charleston Southern University.

Although the figures are still below pre-1993 levels, when the military provided 48,000 jobs and a $4.2 billion impact prior to the closure of the Charleston Naval Base and Naval Shipyard facilities, the economic impact of the military locally has steadily increased over the past decade.

That impact now ranks right behind tourism, which has an annual impact of $5.4 billion, and ahead of the impact of the Port of Charleston, at $3.3 billion.

Compared to the last study, released in 2003, the region’s military presence has expanded by 9%. The region has 10,965 active duty personnel, 6,170 civilians and 9,537 contractor personnel employed by the military. SPAWAR is the largest facility in the region with 10,008 employees, including 8,482 contractors. Charleston Air Force Base has 6,146 active-duty personnel and reservists and a total of 7,920 total employees, including civilians.

One of the key decisions of the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 2005 was the formation of Joint Base Charleston through the realignment of management functions of the Charleston Naval Weapons Station to Charleston Air Force Base.

“Joint Base Charleston is a true model of transportation, logistics, training and engineering efficiency,” said Peter Wertimer, chairman of the chamber’s Military/Federal Facilities Policy Council. “The fact that the Charleston Air Force Base handles over 60 percent of the air cargo going to the Middle East and the Surface Deployment Distribution Command currently is handling over 40 percent of the sea-lift cargo going to the Middle East clearly helps to demonstrate the role of Charleston’s facilities in support of the warfighter.”

The study includes all active duty, reserves, civilian and contractor-related payrolls. All employment and payroll information was collected from each installation. Figures are as of Oct. 1, 2005. Direct employment and payroll includes active-duty, reserves, civilian and contract personnel. Economic impact calculations included only active-duty and civilian employment and payroll numbers.