Editor’s Notebook: Pacific County economy looking peachy

Published 9:07 am Monday, August 22, 2022

Looking back to this past winter of massive flooding in parts of Pacific County, highway damage and quite a lot of really dismal weather, you’d expect our economy to have taken a hit, right?

Wrong. The economic surge of recent years continued this January, February and March. Even in a season with challenging weather, tourism didn’t pause. This was partly thanks to robust recreational clamming. But other businesses also prospered, considering the time of year.

There are many things to dislike about Washington’s heavy reliance on sales taxes to fund government, but they are incredibly helpful in tracking how well businesses are doing. The Washington Department of Revenue’s quarterly statistical reports are gold mines of economic data, their one serious shortcoming being that they lag behind by four or five months due to the complexity of collating so much information. The quarterly report for this January, February and March was just released.

What the numbers show

The grand total for all sales tracked by the DOR report came to nearly $95.7 million this most-recent winter, up more than 11% from the previous winter and up nearly 43% from the pre-pandemic winter of 2019. Looking back a full decade to 2012’s first three months, county businesses reported nearly two and a half times more sales this year. This winter’s total was greater than in nearly every summer in the past decade.

Food and lodging sales, which closely track tourism activity, came to $13.3 million this winter — up 13% above the winter of 2021, 43% over 2019, and 111% over 2012.

Retail sales by main street-type businesses rose 11% over last year, 48% over 2019, and were around three times more than a decade ago. These sales are also revealing when it comes to our important hospitality sector, as visitors stock up on everything from clam guns to t-shirts.

And no surprise to anyone attempting to get a house built or remodeled, contractors remained busy even in the depths of this winter, with more than $7.6 million in reported sales — up 29% from 2021, and 39% more than in the non-covid winter of 2019.

It will be several more months before we see results from this spring and summer, but most of us in business agree things remain busy. One symbolic indication is the campground-full sign in Ilwaco on State Route 100 into Cape Disappointment State Park. It’s been many weeks since there were any available spots in the park, one of Washington’s most popular destinations. In pre-pandemic years, it was fully booked only on main holiday and festival weekends.

Looking forward

Based on what we’re seeing now, there’s little chance Pacific County’s economy will backslide into a recession any time soon.

With an estimated 34-36% of county residents now working remotely from home, the era when physical isolation and harsh seasonal fluctuations hobbled our economy appears to be over. This flexibility will improve in lockstep with better broadband, which now seems a certainty. Although homes have become worryingly unaffordable for some, Pacific County still has the least expensive housing stock in western Washington — perhaps on the entire mainland West Coast. This makes it an attractive retreat from big city problems, a place where you can savor ocean sunsets while still making a living.

We should never underestimate the economic importance of recreational activities like clamming and fishing. When it comes to clamming, this coming season is currently looking to be as good as the previous one, which saw 189,400 digger trips on our peninsula, the highest in the last 15 seasons.

“Razor clam populations on all beaches are looking good and we expect to offer a digging schedule similar to last season. However, we are keeping a close eye on marine toxin levels. There was a recent surge that now seems to be dissipating. If that continues, we expect to be able to release some tentative dates by the first of September,” Washington Coastal Shellfish Manager Dan Ayres told us this Monday. (As of Aug. 10, testing found 4 parts per million of domoic acid here, well below the action level of 20 ppm.)

I could go on, but suffice it to say that prospects look good for continuing economic well-being for businesses in our beautiful county.