In a new report, we look at the impact of Washington’s five major petroleum refiners on the state’s economy in 2017.

In 2017, the refiners directly provided 2,171 full-time jobs, paying an annual average wage of $129,132. In addition, the refiners employed, at high wages, 2,658 contract workers on an average day, doing maintenance, capital repair and capital replacement. The refiners indirectly created additional Washington state jobs in industries from which they purchased goods and services, including transportation, construction, utilities and business services. Spending of the income earned in these direct and indirect jobs created even more jobs.

The sum of all these effects was 25,366 jobs and $1.90 billion in personal income for Washington state in 2017. State and local governments received $231.6 million in taxes directly from the refiners and $74.4 million from the follow-on activities of other taxpayers.

Also, industries that distributed refined petroleum products, paid $503 million in wages to 16,078 workers in 2017. Excise taxes collected by the state from these industries totaled $97.3 million in 2017.

Because of Washington’s unique tax structure, a Washington refinery’s state and local tax burden in 2017 was almost three times higher than the state and local tax burden of a comparable refinery located in California.

Read the report here.