The employment in natural resource industries indicator tells us how many jobs are supported by natural resource industries in Puget Sound, including aquaculture, timber, fishing, agriculture, and recreation and tourism. This information can be used to track changes in the sustainability of employment opportunities in natural resource industries.

• Since 2005, there has generally been a positive trend in the number of jobs and the wage levels supported by natural resource industries in Puget Sound. However, the progress is mixed since patterns differ across the industries. During 2020, there are noticeable declines in employment and wages in the recreation and tourism, as well as aquaculture industries, followed by evidence of the start of recovery in these industries in 2021.
• Combined employment in natural resource-driven industries in Puget Sound had trended upward until 2019 from an estimated 75,603 jobs in 2005 to an estimated 103,065 jobs in 2019, largely impacted by growth in Puget Sound shoreline recreation and tourism. However, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially on the recreation and tourism industry, led to a decline in overall jobs in the natural resource industries, with the 2021 employment totaling 85,354 jobs. Total wages across these industries also increased from approximately $1.2 billion in 2005 to $2.0 billion in 2019 ($2021), before declining to about $1.8 billion in 2020 and then increasing again to a little over $1.9 billion in 2021.
• Aquaculture, agriculture, and recreation and tourism sectors all report general employment and total wages growth from 2005 to 2019, with noticeable declines in these for aquaculture and recreation and tourism in 2020 followed by indication of recovery in 2021. Employment in agriculture and aquaculture each have increased by an average of 1 to 2 percent per year since 2005, while recreation and tourism saw average annual employment growth of 3 percent per year between 2005 and 2019, with this percentage changing to 0.42 percent growth when we add the two additional years of 2020 and 2021. This is due to a significant decline in recreation and tourism employment of 26 percent in 2020 and back to a 3 percent increase in 2021.
• On average, 4,032 employed or self-employed people reported fishing employment between 2011 and 2021. This fishing employment trend is mixed between 2005 and 2012, followed by a decline of roughly 230 people between 2012 and 2015, then another decline of about 660 people between 2015 and 2019, and a decrease of about 210 people between 2019 and 2021. Total wages for the fishing industry show a similar downward trend.
• The timber extraction industry (forestry/logging and support activities) lost employment from 2005 to 2011, but held steady at around 1,300 to 1,400 jobs from 2011 to 2021. While timber employment stayed about the same, total wages for the timber industry have alternately decreased and increased during that timeframe.