Who’s in, who’s out and who’s on top: Major employers list for Pierce County
Joint Base Lewis-McChord remains at the top of Pierce County’s Major Employers List for 2019, a list created annually by the Economic Development Board for Tacoma-Pierce County.
MultiCare Health System, the State of Washington, CHI Franciscan and the City of Tacoma/Tacoma Public Utilities round out the Top 5.
This year’s list includes 272 major employers, defined as those with 100 or more full-time equivalents, representing 172,415 jobs in Pierce County.
JBLM had 54,000 FTEs for 2019, up from 53,000 in 2018.
Health care continues to be one of the main drivers of employment in the county, accounting for more than 7 percent of all full-time equivalents reported by the list’s participants, which is the combined total of senior care services and health services.
According to a news release accompanying the list from the EDB, “MultiCare Health System (8,264 FTEs) reported another employment increase, while CHI Franciscan (5,682) reported a transfer of employees into joint ventures and other branches of their organization, which shifted employment previously tracked under CHI Franciscan.”
The 2018 list counted 6,786 FTEs for the CHI Franciscan.
In February, CHI (Catholic Health Initiatives) and Dignity Health aligned to form nonprofit CommonSpirit Health, with headquarters in Chicago. The new corporate alignment includes CHI Franciscan’s health system among more than 700 care sites and 142 hospitals, as well as virtual care services, home health services and living communities in 21 states.
DaVita is another medical entity that’s reducing its ranks in the county on its way to moving work to Federal Way, down to 625 FTEs in 2019 from 1,184 in 2018.
Area school systems, Tacoma, Puyallup and Bethel, make up the bulk of the rest of the Top 10, along with The Puyallup Tribe (up from No. 21 in 2018) this year at No. 7 and Pierce County government at No. 8.
Sumner School District has moved up from No. 51 last year to No. 17 this year, followed by Peninsula School District at No. 18, up from No. 25 last year. Orting School District also moved up to No. 72 from No. 195 last year.
Retail rivals Target and Walmart are tied at No. 26, each with an estimated 878 full-time workers, while Safeway/Albertsons is the county’s largest retail employer at No. 11 with 2,106 employees. Rival Fred Meyer is at No. 15 with estimated 1,364 full-time workers. Costco was at No. 20 with an estimated 1,200.
EDB president and CEO Bruce Kendall told The News Tribune this week that the list showed general growth across the board for 2019.
“It is encouraging to see no steep decline in any sectors,” Kendall said. “If you look at the big categories, they remain important drivers in our economy. Health service, for example, is still significant and growing.”
“Having gone through the recession,” he added, “we know what it’s like to see the numbers go the other direction. It’s good to see that people are getting jobs here.”
There were other significant comings and goings.
Sekisui Aerospace (formerly AIM Aerospace) expanded and grew its manufacturing jobs in Pierce County, 678 workers up from 380 in 2018.
Sekisui’s growth also reflects the expansion of the aerospace industry’s presence in the county, with eight aerospace companies employing 3,941 full-time workers, according to the EDB.
“With aerospace and manufacturing here, it’s encouraging to see as more of our firms automate, that they are still hiring,” Kendall noted.
This will be the last year to see grocery distributor Supervalu (now UNFI) on the list, after its departure to Centralia after more than a century in Tacoma.
But, this was the first year for McMenamins (100 workers) to appear on the list after opening in April 2019 in Tacoma.
“They’re the gold standard in new development in the food and entertainment space,” Kendall said.
What’s the sector Tacoma still could benefit adding significantly into its ranks?
“One area I’m bullish on and looking to grow is in tech,” he said. “We are not a big tech center yet in and of ourselves. We’re part of a region for that, and I think we’ll see continued growth at accelerated pace.
“There’s a number of companies now on cusp of being major employers that are in the tech space.”
He credits University of Washington Tacoma for helping move that growth along with its School of Engineering and Technology.
“I anticipate that sector will join heath and manufacturing/distribution,” over time in employment, he added.
This story was originally published January 2, 2020 at 5:31 AM.
