DULUTH SEAWAY PORT AUTHORITY ECONOMIC IMPACT RESEARCH | 2020 AND 2023
Challenge: In 2018, the Duluth Seaway Port Authority commissioned a study that analyzed the impact of the industrial sector on the economy of Duluth, Minnesota. In subsequent years, it sought to update economic impact numbers without reproducing the entire report.
Northspan’s Role: Reproduced the methods used by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), which completed the first study, in both 2020 and 2023. The data compared Duluth to other Minnesota regional centers, calculated the wage benefits of industrial sector jobs relative to other local jobs, and used input-output economic impact modeling to show the spillover effects of these jobs on the rest of the economy.
Results: The Port Authority used the information to educate stakeholders and the public on the ongoing importance of the industrial sector to Duluth’s economy and used the data to encourage further investment in the community.
Contact: Kate Ferguson, Duluth Seaway Port Authority Director of Trade & Business Development, kferguson@duluthport.com