Local jobs linked to agriculture not just on farms

Klamath Falls Herald and News

January 24, 2008

   According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, there were more than 34,000 total jobs in Klamath County in 2005, and more than 2,000 were employed on 1,228 county farms. 

   While agriculture only directly affects about 6 percent of the employed county population, the echo effect of the industry throughout the county is much greater. 

   Applying economic multipliers to the 2007 agriculture sales, total impact on the county doubles, making the industry’s total worth about $600 million to the community.
   
Multipliers    

Economic multipliers, said Willie Riggs, director of the Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center , are a way economists measure and track the spending and leakage of $1 down to the last penny in a community. 

   The agriculture sector as a whole has a multiplier effect of two, Riggs said. This means every time $1 is generated, another $1 is generated in total local business sales. 

   “The multiplier looks at the indirect and induced,” Riggs said. “Those in agriculture tend to spend money locally.” 

   Scott Allen, floor manager at Lithia Dodge Chrysler Jeep of Klamath Falls, said farmers and ranchers play big role in his company. 

   “Probably 40 percent of our business comes from ag,” he said. “Bottom line is that those people are our lifeblood. We cater to them and we depend on them.” 

   Farmers and ranchers spend locally, Riggs believes, partly because they are homebodies who tend to work during the summer months instead of going on vacation, which takes spending out of the local area. 

   “There’s not a lot of time to just disappear,” he said.

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