With the kickoff of the $1.2 billion Middle Harbor Redevelopment Project, preliminary construction on the Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement and a new maintenance facility, among other projects, the Port generated about 3,000 jobs, nearly triple that of the prior year. In 2010, the Port’s projects generated about 880 jobs. “2011 was a spectacular year for jobs, particularly when compared to 2010,” said Larry Cottrill, the Port’s Director of Master Planning. “By February 2011, we had exceeded the number of jobs added in all of 2010.”
Most of the new jobs, about 96 percent, were in construction-related fields, Cottrill said.
“This report reaffirms all the positive things we’re doing here,” said Executive Director J. Christopher Lytle. “The money we’re investing is paying off in terms of jobs created.”
Shipping facility improvements, infrastructure developments and other modernization projects generate thousands of immediate jobs in the construction and engineering fields. Once the projects are complete, they generate new, permanent jobs in the Southern California region.
The Port has nearly $4.5 billion in capital improvements planned for the next decade, which would generate as many as 50,000 new, permanent jobs in the region and thousands of temporary construction jobs.
The Port already supports 30,000 jobs in Long Beach – 1 in 8 jobs – and nearly 316,000 in the Southern California region. Nationwide, the Port supports nearly 1.4 million jobs.
Port-related employment includes jobs such as dockworkers, truck drivers and others who handle cargo each day, as well as off-the-docks jobs such as freight forwarders who book international shipments; warehouse workers who receive, sort and store goods; and financial, insurance and legal professionals whose work also depends on a thriving seaport. And there are the wholesale distributors who move the goods to the final point of purchase, whether it is household items to a store, or parts to a manufacturer.
