Fun & Games Beats Oil & Gas
Welcome to Summer all you Northern Hemisphereans (is that a word?)! While winter is half way around the sun for many of us, now is a great time of year for all forms of warm-weather outdoor recreation. If you work in the 'fun' world of outdoor recreation you might feel like some people don't take the outdoor industry very seriously. What if you could tell them that the Outdoor Industry employs nearly three times more people than the fossil fuel industry? It turns out that outdoor fun is serious business.
Fun Facts from the 2012 Outdoor Recreation Economy Report
The Outdoor Recreation Economy is responsible for:
- 6.1 million direct American jobs
- $646 billion in direct consumer spending
- $39.9 billion in federal tax revenue
- $39.7 billion in state/local tax revenue
Of course, spending active time outside is more fun than being sedentary indoors. That's why more than 140 million Americans make outdoor recreation a daily priority. The outdoor recreation economy grew approximately 5 percent annually between 2005 and 2011 – in the middle of an economic recession. If that isn't enough to get you excited about the outdoor industry then check out the full Outdoor Recreation Economy Report 2012.
Job Comparisons, by Industry(1)
- Real Estate, Rentals, Leasing - 2.0 Million Jobs
- Oil and Gas(2) - 2.1 Million Jobs
- Information - 2.5 Million Jobs
- Education - 3.5 Million Jobs
- Transportation and Warehousing - 4.3 Million Jobs
- Construction - 5.5 Million Jobs
- Finance and Insurance - 5.8 Million Jobs
- Outdoor Recreation - 6.1 Million Jobs
(1) Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011
(2) American Petroleum Institute, direct jobs in 2007 from The Economic Impacts of the Oil and Natural Gas Industy on The US Economy: Employment, Labor Income and Value Added, 2009
If you're not a big fan of facts and figures just remember that Outdoor Recreation Industry employs about 3 times more people than the Fossil Fuel Industry ... and outdoor jobs are a lot more fun!
More Info:
New Report: Outdoor Recreation Industry Jobs Outnumber Those In Oil And Gas Nearly Three to One
