A new national study shows the beer industry supports nearly 63,000 jobs in Wisconsin and contributes $9 billion each year to the state’s economy.
The Beer Serves America study, from the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the Beer Institute, shows those jobs account for $2.5 billion in wages and benefits each year. And the state’s industry generates $1.3 billion each year in business, personal and consumption taxes.
Industry participants are broken down into three segments: brewers, distributors and retailers. In Wisconsin, retail accounts for the most jobs with 26,996 employees. Distributors in the state employ 3,677, while brewers employ 2,356.
Despite having the smallest number of workers, the brewing segment has the largest direct economic output, with about $1.38 billion. By comparison, the output of distributing is under $600 million, and the output of retailing is about $1.36 billion.
The report also breaks down the economic impact of beer into supplier-side benefits and induced benefits. For both of these categories, the greatest impact is seen the category of business and personal services. On the supplier side, beer supports 4,139 jobs in this category, leading to $535 million in economic output. On the induced impact side, beer supports 6,445 jobs and has $625 million in output.
The other top industries supported by beer are manufacturing on the supplier side, and retail, travel and entertainment on the induced side.
On the national level, the report shows each job in the brewing industry supports 31 additional full-time jobs: 13 in retail, two in beer wholesaling, 1.3 in manufacturing, and 0.7 in farming.
Report authors note that brewers and beer importers directly employ nearly 70,000 people in the United States. According to NBWA President and CEO Craig Purser, about 3,000 U.S. beer distributors employ 141,600 people across the country — up 19 percent in the past 10 years. And about 640,000 licensed retailers exist nationwide.
“Beer is more than America’s most popular alcohol beverage,” said Beer Institute President and CEO Jim McGreevy. “The beer industry is vital to the United States, generating more than 2 million jobs and contributing $328 billion to the American economy.”
Overall, the U.S. beer industry produces more than $58.6 billion in tax revenue each year.
The study was created by the independent economics firm John Dunham & Associates, using data from federal agencies as well as private companies.
See the full report: http://beerservesamerica.org/
