Amazon, Inc.’s $2.5 billion investment in major new East Coast headquarters in Arlington/Alexandria will generate $14.2 billion in economic activity over the next 12 years, projects a new study by Richmond-based Chmura Economics & Analytics. While Amazon has committed to hiring 25,000 employees, indirect effects of the investment will create more than 59,000 jobs.
“The entire state of Virginia will benefit from Amazon’s decision to locate part of its second headquarters in Northern Virginia,” said Christine Chmura, the firm’s CEO and chief economist. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has the story here.
Chmura estimates the project will generate $1.83 billion in state income and sales tax revenues from 2019 through 2030, when annual collections are forecast to reach $346.7 million, reports the RTD based upon Chmura’s soon-to-be-published column in the newspaper’s Metro Business section.
The analysis does not include the promised $1.1 billion in new state spending at higher education institutions. The RTD provided no numbers (presumably because the Chmura report did not have them) on how many jobs would percolate down to the Rest of Virginia.
Update: You can find a copy of the Chmura report here. The RTD and Washington Post articles were either unclear or misleading. The $14.2 billion in economic activity by 2030 is for that year only, not a cumulative figure, as I suggested above. States the report:
Combining capital expenditures and the MCH’s operations, it is estimated that
the total economic impact (direct, indirect, and induced) of the Amazon [Major Corporate Headquarters] will be $14.2 billion in Virginia, supporting 59,308 jobs in 2030, when the MCH reaches its full capacity. The total state tax revenue is estimated to be $346.7 million in 2030 and $1.83 billion from 2019 through 2030.
