Economy

Seattle is the urban center of a four-county metropolitan region with 3.58 million people and 1.8 million jobs. The city's largest employer is the University of Washington, with 28,188 faculty and staff, annual revenue of $3.7 billion and annual research budget of $1.02 billion (see 2007 Annual Report. The University plays a key role in many economic sectors such as healthcare, biotechnology, information technology, science and research.

Seattle's healthcare cluster (hospitals, healthcare products and services, training and research) accounts for 96,000 jobs and contributes $10 billion annually to the local economy (see Key Industries at http://www.seattle.gov/economicdevelopment/). The biotechnology and medical device sector, ranked 5th in the US by industry concentration, consists of 170 firms and non-profit research organizations throughout the Seattle/Washington State region (see http://www.wabio.com/). Seattle's strong position in healthcare, biotechnology and information technology has led to new collaborative developments in bioinformatics (using databases and algorithms to enhance biological research) and health informatics (using computer technologies for the collection, storage, communication and optimal use of health related data).

Seattle's healthcare and biotechnology sectors have benefited from grants from the Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has more than $30 billion in net assets. Foundation funding helped the University of Washington co-locate the Departments of Genome Sciences and Bioengineering in a new facility and create a new Department of Global Health (jointly run by the Schools of Public Health and Medicine). The South Lake Union neighborhood near the University has become a biotech hub thanks to private investment by Vulcan, the creation of a $15 million biotech incubator and proximity to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Institute for Systems Biology, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Seattle office), Amgen's Helix Campus on Elliot Bay, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the Pacific Northwest Research Institute, the Infectious Disease Research Institute, PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute and Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason.

Aerospace has long been a key industry in the Seattle region, thanks to the Boeing Company. As of March 2008, Boeing employed 4,517 people in Seattle and Washington (total company employment is 161,493). In 2007, Boeing payments to its 3,007 suppliers in Seattle and Washington surpassed $3.2 billion. Boeing's new 787 airplanes are assembled north of Seattle in the city of Everett.

The information technology sector in the Seattle/Washington State region includes about 3,000 companies with a total of 191,000 employees. Microsoft, which has its headquarters and other research and development facilities in the Seattle area, employes 35,510 people in Seattle and Washington State. Microsoft has 78,565 employees worldwide.

The Seattle area is home to leading-edge companies in a number of additional sectors. The “Smart Energy” sector in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia is estimated to include more than 225 companies with revenues in excess of $1.9 billion plus another $150 million in research and development funding. The Arts as an economic sector ranks 5th among American cities and includes 3,578 arts-related businesses employing 18,493 people (according to a 2007 Creative Industries Report by Americans for the Arts). The arts sector includes a growing film and video industry, as well as a music industry that in 2004 generated labor income of $266 million, total sales of $1.3 billion, and employment of 10,700 jobs in 3,000 music-related businesses. Seattle is the center of a thriving gourmet coffee industry (Seattle based Starbucks is known worldwide); a dynamic recreation equipment sector (thanks to organizations such as the Mountaineers and companies such as K2 Sports, REI, Filson and MSR); and the nation’s largest marine and fisheries sector (fisheries exports from Washington State exceed the total of all other US states combined based on both value and weight). Other important sectors are wood products, transportation equipment, food products and apparel design.

For further information, see http://www.seattle.gov/economicdevelopment/ and http://www.seattletradealliance.com.

Total Employment

Number of full-time and part-time positions (not including resource or construction)

Source: Puget Sound Regional Council
*King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap Counties

US Military

The Defense Department is one of the largest employers in the Puget Sound region. Major facilities include Fort Lewis Army Base, the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Bangor Naval Submarine Base, McChord Air Force Base and Naval Station Everett.

Employment by Economic Sector, 2007

Greater Seattle Area: King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish Counties

Source: December 2007 Puget Sound Economic Forecaster