The South Sound continues adding jobs and diversifying its economy.
Major employers saw an increase of more than 4,100 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs this year, according to a new report from the Economic Development Board of Tacoma and Pierce County.
The list tallies companies or organizations with 100 or more FTEs. This year, 244 entities hit the large-employer threshold compared with 215 last year.
MultiCare Health System leads the list of private employers, followed by CHI Franciscan Health, State Farm, Boeing and Amazon’s distribution centers. The largest public employers were Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the State of Washington, Tacoma Public Schools, Pierce County government and the Bethel School District.
Overall, the military installation was No. 1 with 60,100 FTEs, followed by MultiCare, which operates Tacoma General Hospital and other health-care facilities, with 7,439 FTEs. Both have seen increases since 2012.
Through October, non-farm civilian employment in the Tacoma-Lakewood Metropolitan Division has risen by 6,900 jobs. Year over year through October, the increase is 8,300. The metro division has added 47,800 jobs since the trough of the Great Recession, reaching a record high of 317,200. These are all jobs tracked by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, not FTEs.
The report shows that, although not enjoying the rare boom of Seattle, Tacoma and Pierce County’s big employers are adding jobs and diversifying.
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Today’s Econ Haiku:
Don’t just pass on by
The tax bill’s full of loopholes
Pass throughs as Swiss cheese
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