Transportation Institute Touts Success of the Jones Act for Maritime Job Creation

Transportation Institute (TI), a leading maritime association that advocates and works for sound national maritime policy in the United States, announced a 30 percent increase in domestic maritime job creation enabled by the Jones Act. Thanks to the law, the industry now employs nearly 650,0000 Americans across all 50 states and contributes $154 billion to the nation’s economic growth annually.

The Jones Act, an anchor for U.S. economic and national security interests, guarantees that the transportation of merchandise between two U.S. points is carried out by American– built, owned and crewed vessels.

A newly released study published by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for TI affirms the economic benefits of the domestic maritime industry. Specifically, the report finds that the Jones Act-enabled maritime industry:

Contributes more than $154 billion in total economic output annually;
Creates $41 billion in labor income for American workers each year;
Adds $72 billion annually to the value of U.S. economic output;
Sustains nearly 650,000 American jobs, with one shipyard job creating four jobs elsewhere in the economy.
Encompassing jobs in all 50 states, and the District of Columbia, the Jones Act workforce represents a variety of career path. Collectively, this industrial base accounts for $41 billion in American labor income annually.