The U.S. marine economy, including goods and services, contributed about $373B to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product in 2018, and grew faster than the nation’s economy as a whole, according to statistics released June 2 by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s NOAA and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. “These statistics are the first-of-its-kind estimate of the U.S. marine economy, a primary driver of jobs, innovation and economic growth,” said Tim Gallaudet, assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and deputy administrator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The analysis considered 10 sectors representing businesses dependent on the nation’s oceans, coasts and Great Lakes between the years 2014-18. Marine-related gross domestic product grew 5.8% from 2017-18 - 5.4% more than the growth of the total GDP as measured in current dollars. Businesses included in the report also supported 2.3M jobs in 2018. The sectors making the largest contributions to the nation’s GDP, not adjusted for inflation, are:
* Tourism and recreation, including recreational fishing ($143B)
* National defense and public administration ($124B)
* Offshore minerals ($49B)
* Transportation and warehousing ($25B)
* Living resources, including commercial fishing and aquaculture ($13B)
* Ship and boatbuilding ($9B)
* Power generation ($4B)
* Research and education ($3B)
* Construction ($2.5B)
* Professional and technical services ($31M)
The data, report and other materials are available at https://www.bea.gov/data/special-topics/ocean-economy.
Shipbuilding and maritime related news from the Central Gulf Coast region
