OLYMPIA – A steadily growing number of Thurston County residents commute to jobs outside the county, which economic development experts say is partly due to a lack of good-paying local jobs.
Nearly 30 percent more people now commute to jobs outside the county than work for state government in Thurston County, and the number of outbound commuters is increasing steadily.
State government jobs have long stabilized the county’s economy, cushioning it from economic downturns. But growth in state jobs has been relatively flat for several years.
Working outside the county often means longer commutes, more traffic on freeways – adding to air pollution, and lost revenue for local businesses and governments. Outbound commuters tend to spend some of their income at businesses near their workplace, depriving their home communities of sales taxes needed for parks, roads, schools and public services.
It’s a trend that cuts to the heart of the ongoing debate between proponents of economic development and proponents of slow growth. “It’s something we’re concerned about,” said Michael Cade, executive director of the Economic Development Council of Thurston County. “If we don’t pay attention to it now, it could turn into a real big problem.”
Because of the trend, the development council is working on its first written strategy for recruiting good jobs to the county and keeping them.
Commuting patterns being studied by the Thurston Regional Planning Council show that the number of outbound commuters surpassed the county’s state government work force in 1997, and continues to grow at a faster clip.
In that year, an estimated 21,629 commuters left the county for civilian and military jobs, compared with state government employment of 21,581.
The gap has been growing steadily. This year, an estimated 29,931 people, not including military personnel, leave the county every work day to get to their jobs, compared with a state government payroll estimated at 23,194.
“Clearly, we’re not creating enough family-wage jobs to keep our people home,” said Dennis Matson, Cade’s predecessor at the Economic Development Council. “As they work elsewhere, they shop elsewhere and put more pressure on mass transit.”
While the number of commuters coming to Olympia from other counties also is increasing, more people leave the county than come into it, Thurston Regional Planning Council data show. This year, the data show an outbound commute, including military personnel, of 32,331, compared with 17,282 inbound commuters.
Development council board president Michael Edwards attributes the trend to the changing nature of Thurston County and its three major cities. “We’re becoming more of a bedroom community than we already were,” Edwards said.
There’s an emotional side to the trend as well. Children who grow up in Thurston County often have to leave the county to find jobs. “I have three boys, and they’re all in Seattle in the dot-com business,” Edwards said. “I think if we could stop the brain drain, we in South Sound would all be better off.”
What’s happening here is part of a national trend, said Pete Swensson, a Thurston Regional Planning Council planner.
“More and more of this is going on nationally,” he said. It has implications for traffic and air pollution and, as gasoline prices continue to rise, longer commutes pinch motorists’ disposable incomes, Swensson said.
When disposable income winds up in the gasoline tank, it doesn’t go to local retail stores or entertainment venues, Swensson said.
The south Puget Sound area’s booming housing market is only increasing the challenge of keeping the county from becoming even more of a bedroom community. People from other counties often move to the county for cheaper housing, and commute to jobs in the counties where they used to live.
According to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, the median price of a King County home is $100,000 more than in Thurston County; the median price in Pierce County is about $10,000 more than in Thurston County.
Most outbound commuters, nearly 63 percent, go to Pierce County, followed by 10.7 percent to Lewis County and 5 percent to King County, data show. Other destinations include Mason, Grays Harbor and Snohomish counties.
For much of this year, the development council has been working on a written development strategy to recruit and retain higher-paying jobs.
“It’s still a work in progress,” Edwards said. “We’re still putting our act together.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
