New jobs do not always equal economic development
Clark County has seen the state’s hottest job growth over the past 2 1/2 years with a 16 percent increase in employment through the end of 2006, according to The Seattle Times. The average county wage is $37,200, according to the Columbia River Economic Development Council.
What would the proposed Cowlitz casino-resort add to this? Below-average wage positions and lots of them.
Below-average and food-stamp wages
The proposed casino-resort expects to hire 3,151 employees—about as many as are employed by Clark County’s largest private employer, Southwest Washington Medical Center. According to the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), the average wage would be $28,000—$9,000 less than Clark County’s average.
And many employees would not make anywhere near $28,000. According to the DEIS, the median income would be $24,085, meaning half of the employees would be paid less than $24,085. In fact, the wage midpoint of the lowest-paid 630 employees would be $17,090, says the DEIS’s socioeconomics report. A three-member household qualifies for food stamps at a household income of $20,920, and a two-member household qualifies for food stamps at an income of $16,660. Many families with a sole wage-earner would need assistance.
A shortage of housing
Low-wage jobs mean low-rent housing would be in demand. In the fourth quarter of 2006, the median home sale price in Clark County was nearly $272,500, a price most casino-resort workers could not afford. The DEIS indicates that rental vacancy rates are extremely low in Clark and Cowlitz counties. Where would these employees and their families live?
A lack of workers
On the employment front, the casino-resort could be hard-pressed to find enough workers locally. Clark County employs about 12,700 people in “leisure and hospitality,” according to Workforce Explorer Washington. Workers such as gaming dealers, housekeepers, food servers and cooks are already classified as “in demand” here, according to Washington’s Interactive Labor Market Access. Local unemployment is low—in December 2006, unemployment was only 5.2 percent.
The proposed casino-resort would probably draw its employees away from jobs in local businesses and probably from other countries, as the Cowlitz Tribe’s partners, the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut, has done at its casino. The Mohegan Sun recruited many employees from overseas, a strategy that resulted in a workforce that substantially impacts Connecticut’s housing markets, school systems, transportation and social services.
Developing a casino-resort in Clark County would affect employers, employees and residents in a multitude of ways. This type of job creation would not bring economic development.