Supporting a healthy freight rail network is a key to job growth and continued U.S. economic recovery. Freight rail is a powerful job creation engine, contributing nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars of total economic activity annually. This translates into jobs all across the country and in every sector of the economy – as many as 1.2 million jobs, according to a 2010 report issued by the Blue Green Alliance and the Economic Policy Institute.
Although most people do not realize it, America’s freight railroads invest massive amounts of their own money each year in the rail network and they pay their own way, getting minimal support from the government. Rail has invested $480 billion back into capital needs and expansion since 1980 – creating thousands of jobs directly, and even more indirectly at businesses that supply railroads and ship by rail.
Every direct railroad job supports 4.5 additional jobs – on farms, in factories and mines, and throughout the economy. Economic development officials in communities all across the country can attest that having access to freight rail service is instrumental to retaining existing jobs and luring new businesses to their communities.
For example, when the Barbasol shaving cream company was looking to locate a new factory, community leaders in Ashland, Ohio rallied together to highlight the benefits of choosing their town. It was the local freight railroad that turned out to be their ace in the hole. “Without freight rail, we wouldn’t have Barbasol,” said Evan Scurti, Director of the Ashland Area Council for Economic Development. The company recently completed construction of the new facility, where it will employ 30 people immediately and is expected to create 100 new jobs.