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sustainable economy is one that offers employment and business opportunities
today that do not undermine the ability of future generations to
realize commensurate opportunities. In practical terms, this
means an economy made up of activities that do not permanently erode
the factors that give Cape Cod a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
The first of these advantages is the Cape’s natural environment
upon which the economy has depended and prospered for centuries.
Be it the era of salt production, boatbuilding, fishing, or the
present primacy of the tourist industry, the proximity to and health
of the marine environment has been central to the region’s economic
wellbeing. Similarly, other important and emerging industries
on the Cape, including marine sciences, technology, and the arts,
are closely linked to the natural environment of the region.
The historic land use patterns, architecture, and scale of development
are also economic assets in terms of their attraction to visitors
and residents alike. It is well understood in economics and
business that a significant factor in success is providing a unique,
genuine experience, be it a place, product, or service.
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Cape
Cod and the Island’s
Essential
and Emerging Industries
The
Regional Competitiveness Council of Cape Cod and the Island’s
established by Governor Romney and consisting of leaders of
the public and private sectors in the region, identified the
region’s essential and emerging industry clusters. The traditional
clusters, those central to our current economy and worthy
of maintaining, were identified as:
-
Retail
Trade
-
Accommodations
and Food Service
-
Health
Care and Social Assistance
-
Agriculture
& Aquaculture
-
Fishing
& Fishing Products
-
Business
& Financial Services
The
industries identified as important to the development and
strength of the future economy, called emerging sectors, included:
-
Marine
Sciences & Technology
-
Information
& Related Technology
-
Arts
& Culture
-
Education
& Knowledge-based Businesses
This
effort was based on methodology designed by and assistance
from Professor Michael E. Porter, of the Institute for Strategy
and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School. |
Existing
Conditions
Recognition
of the region’s unique economic assets is
the first step towards sustainability.
The second step is to understand how existing
conditions impact these assets presently and
over time. Existing conditions can,
and should be, looked at from a variety of
perspectives. For the purposes of this
section, we will focus on demographic trends,
employment trends and business trends.
US Census data and population projections
for the region show the following demographic
and housing trends:
- Barnstable
County’s population has grown more than
three times as fast as Massachusetts’ and
nearly half again as fast as the nation’s.
(US Census 1980, 1990, 2000)
- Retirement-age
residents comprise a higher proportion of
the population on Cape Cod (23.1%) than
in Massachusetts (13.5%) and the US as a
whole (12.3%). (US Census 1990,
2000)
- The
number of housing units on the Cape has
more than doubled since 1970 and continues
to grow at a higher rate than the state
as a whole. (US Census 1970,
1980, 1990, 2000)
4.Thirty-six
percent of housing on Cape Cod is classified as seasonal, compared
to 7% statewide, however, this percentage has been declining with
a 22% increase in the number of houses occupied year around from
the 1990 Census to the 2000 Census.
It
is worth noting that these trends can vary significantly between
the sub-regions and towns of the Cape. Nevertheless, they
provide important information about the region’s workforce, customer
base, and the forces at play relative to the region economic assets.
In
terms of the traditional economic measures of income, business activity,
and employment the data show the following key trends:
- With
80% of the businesses in the county employing ten or fewer workers,
the region’s economy is dominated by small businesses.
(County Business Patterns 2003, US Census Bureau)
- Within
the Barnstable-Yarmouth Metropolitan Statistical Area, the number
of businesses with 20 or fewer employees has grown at a greater
rate (42%) than businesses with more than 20 employees (27%)
between 1992 and 2001. (US Small Business Administration)
- Barnstable
County led the 14 Massachusetts counties in the rate of median
household income growth while also seeing the greatest decline
in the number of families living below the poverty level.
(US Census 1990, 2000)
- A
smaller portion of personal income on Cape Cod comes from job
earning (58%) than for the state as a whole (70.2%).
(US Bureau of Economic Analysis 2003)
- Regional
employment grew at a faster rate (25.9%) between 1990 and 2000
than both population (19.1%) and housing (8.8%). (ES202
Data, US Bureau of Labor Statistics; US Census 1990, 2000)
- An
increasing proportion of Cape Cod residents are working outside
the region, particularly in the Upper Cape where as much as
a third of the population commute off-Cape. (US Census)
- The
Cape Cod economy is dominated by service industries with the
majority of employment in three major sectors: Education &
Health Services (22.4%), Leisure & Hospitality (18.8%) and
Retail Trade (18.5%). (ES202 Data, US Bureau of Labor
Statistics, 2004)
The
trends outlined indicate that Cape Cod will continue to feel development
pressures despite the finite amount of developable land remaining
and the environmental consequences of development. Moreover,
development continues to be increasingly year-round in nature resulting
in even greater demand for infrastructure, services and natural
resources to absorb both pollutant and recreational demands.
Together these pressures will place continued upward pressure on
land and development costs across the board. Current suburban
style zoning further exacerbates these impacts.
Selected
Industry Highlights
Tourism
Tourism
remains the dominant force behind the Cape’s economy, reaching far
beyond the jobs and businesses that directly serve tourists.
Tourists bring new money into the region’s economy, adding to the
overall value and wealth of the region’s economy. They support
the protection of the Cape’s natural environment and community character.
In any region, tourism reflects the image, attractiveness
and health of the greater community more than any other segment
of the economy. It is a barometer of our well-being; the
uniqueness of our character, cultural life, restaurants and most
emphatically, our natural attributes, are what draw visitors to
Cape Cod.
Tourism
is also important because of the impacts it creates, such as level
of service on roadways, parks and beaches, lower seasonal wages
and wastewater mitigation. As a community, we need to understand
that Cape Cod is an internationally recognized vacation destination
and look for ways to minimize the strain on our resources.
Unfortunately,
several factors beginning with the terrorist attacks of 2001 have
negatively impacted tourism nationwide, with the Cape being no exception.
The industry has been slowly regaining strength as the data
included in the tourism indicator attests. Another challenge
to tourism on the Cape may be the move toward converting hotel properties
into single-family homes or condominiums. This will certainly
have a fiscal impact on towns as a loss in rooms tax revenue and
may result in fewer short-term tourists but more second homeowners,
the economic impact of which are different.
The
Arts
The
arts and culture sector has an historical importance to the Cape
and is expected to continue to expand in the region. It has
been identified as an emerging cluster by the Regional Competitiveness
Council as a result of the cluster analysis completed for the Cape
and Islands by Professor Michael E. Porter, from the Institute for
Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School.
According to a further study of the cluster, completed by the University
of Massachusetts – Dartmouth Center for Policy Studies, arts and
culture accounted for 2.8% of total private sector employment on
the Cape and Islands in 2004. Using the same data, the study
compared arts & culture at 2.8% to other emerging industries:
distribution 2.8%; social service 2.3%, and marine technology 1.1%.
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