Industry & Business

In 2023, Pierce County had 18,689 establishments employing 343,789 workers, with a significant portion of the workforce concentrated in small and mid-sized businesses (Establishment Trends in Pierce County, WA). While these establishments make up a diverse economic landscape, larger businesses (those with 100+ employees) employ a disproportionate share of the workforce. However, small businesses, though fewer in total number of employees, are essential drivers of local economic activity, providing flexible job opportunities and fostering entrepreneurial growth within the community.

Small businesses contribute significantly to workforce development by offering entry-level positions, creating a foundation for career growth, and supporting a resilient, diverse economy. These businesses are more adaptable and innovative, playing a crucial role in meeting local needs and creating a dynamic labor market.

Though large businesses are important for employment, supporting the growth of small businesses remains vital for creating a balanced, sustainable job market. By focusing on workforce training and resources for these establishments, Pierce County can ensure a thriving local economy that offers diverse opportunities for its residents.

Over the past two decades, Pierce County has experienced significant shifts in employment trends across various sectors. Using the controls on the right-hand side of the dashboard, we can adjust these estimates to reflect different calculations of employment trends. These include net difference (Annual Change), which shows the absolute change in employment numbers, relative difference (Annual % Change), which provides a percentage view of growth or decline, and cumulative change (Total Change), which tracks overall changes over time.

Moreover, we can view cumulative change relative to the starting year (Total % Change), which provides insight into how sectors have evolved since the baseline year. These changes in employment trends over the years can be influenced by numerous factors. While overall sector shifts reflect natural economic cycles, drastic changes may also result from reclassification, where industries or companies shift focus, causing shifts in their reported employment figures. Such reclassifications can skew the data and alter the apparent employment patterns in ways that are not solely due to growth or decline within the sector itself. Understanding these nuances is crucial for interpreting employment trends, as they help to explain fluctuations that might otherwise seem abrupt or unexpected.

Our region’s economic identity is shaped by the distribution of workers across industries and how this compares to other areas. The heat map below provides a valuable comparison of industries across counties, using key metrics like 1-year forecast growth rate, 5-year change in employment, average annual wages per worker, location quotient, and employment distribution. These metrics help identify industry strengths, growth areas, and wage patterns, highlighting where each county specializes or faces challenges. By comparing these metrics, users can quickly assess how a county’s industry landscape aligns with or differs from others, offering insights for workforce development and strategic economic planning.

The concentration of workers within different industries often varies significantly across demographic characteristics. These patterns of occupational segregation are influenced by numerous factors and are frequently reflective of broader industry-level trends. Below, we compare the demographic distribution within a selected industry to the overall distribution across all industries. This comparison can serve multiple purposes, such as identifying challenges in industry-level diversity or highlighting sectors that may face labor shortages in the future, particularly due to retirements or shifts in the workforce.