Report Indicates Improving Economy In Scott County

November 10, 2005

The East Tennessee Development District’s Fall 2005 Economic Statistics report continues to indicate a slowly-improving local economy.

The report, released Monday by the ETDD, indicates that while unemployment rates in Scott County remain well above state and national averages, other indicators of an improving economy are strong, and local tourism is up.

Local manufacturing jobs continue to increase in 2005, the report pointed out, and overall retail sales rose 6.7% during the first six months of 2005 over 2004 levels. Visitation to the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area rose slightly during the first nine months of 2005 after reporting a sharp drop between 2003 and 2004, and lodging receipts rose 10.8 percent during the first six months of 2005 after reporting a decline between 2003 and 2004.

Statistics just compiled from past years indicate that while local per capita income remained well below state and national averages in 2003, the average weekly wages rose 5.2 percent between 2003 and 2004. Local population projections are above the state average, the report stated.

Specifically, the report indicated:

• The local labor force dropped for the second consecutive quarter in the 2005 second quarter, dropping from 8,530 to 8,497. In the first quarter of this year, the labor force dropped from 8,537 to 8.530. Of that number, 653 persons were unemployed at the end of the second quarter, a rate of 7.7 percent;

• Scott County’s total labor force at the end of 2004 was 8,450, down 3.9 percent from 2001’s high of 8,790 workers. The unemployment rate over the same period was up sharply, from 590 of 8,790 in 2001 to 630 of 8,450 in 2004, a change of 6.8 percent;

• As of August 2005, the 6,839 persons employed in Scott County were employed in the following fields: Manufacturing, 2,208; natural resources, mining and construction, 329; trade, transportation and utilities, 1,063; financial activities, 150; education and health services, 735; leisure and hospitality, 468; other services, 359; and government, 1,334. Of those totals, manufacturing jobs were up 10.2 percent from 2003, while natural resources, mining and construction jobs were up 6.9 percent and leisure and hospitality jobs were up 5.1 percent. The biggest decrease over the same period was in education and health services, down 3.6 percent;

• The highest weekly wages in Scott County in 2004 were in the natural resources and mining industry, with an average weekly wage of $697, followed by financial activities ($546), education and health services ($541), manufacturing ($500) and professional and business services ($488). The overall average weekly wage was $469, up from $446 in 2003;

• The average per capita income in Scott County in 2003 was $17,456, up 9.7 percent from 1999’s per capita income of $15,918. That increase did not meet increases at the state (15.0 percent) and federal (12.6 percent) levels, however. The average per capita income estimate at the state level was $28,641 in 2003, while the average per capita income at the federal level was $31,472;

• Quarterly sales taxes collected in Scott County in the second quarter of 2005 stood at $2.604 million, down 0.8 percent from the $2.626 million collected in the second quarter of 2004. The first quarter 2005 sales tax collected was $2.583 million, up sharply from $2.389 million in the first quarter of 2004;

• Local retail sales were up in January through June of 2005 from the same months in 2004 in almost all categories. The biggest jump was in food stores, with sales up 19.5 percent over those months in 2004, followed by apparel (9.3 percent), autos (9.1 percent), eating places (6.5 percent), general merchandise (6.1 percent) and furniture (4.4 percent). The only decrease was in building supplies, down 13.6 percent from 2004;

• The report estimates Scott County’s population to be 23,494 by 2010, up 11.2 percent from the 2000 total of 21,127, and up to 25,557 by 2020;

• Year-to-date tourism in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area is up slightly, at 524,433, from 2004, an increase of 0.2 percent. Visits to the park remained down in most months, including January, February, April, May, June, July and August, but posted a significant increase in July, with 88,857 visits, up 19.9 percent from the July 2004 total of 74,129 visits.

newsroom@ihoneida.com

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