We welcome you to JobBank USA and hope your job hunting experience
is a pleasant one. We hope you find our resources useful.
September 25, 2010
Building a high-speed rail maintenance facility in Shafter or Wasco would create between 1,520 and 2,170 Kern jobs, and would support an additional 1,990 positions in the county once it reached full capacity, according to an economic impact report made public last week.
The 24-page study is intended to build public backing for the two proposals. It was paid for by the Kern Council of Governments at a cost of $75,000, and prepared by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.
While there remain questions as to whether the California High-Speed Rail project will ultimately run all the way between San Francisco and San Diego, funding is in place for at least part of the system. That would appear to require a repair and maintenance facility such as the ones proposed in Shafter, Wasco and elsewhere in the Central Valley.
The facility's overall cost is expected to range between $255.8 million and $349.3 million.
Construction alone would generate state and local taxes totaling between $7.5 million and $10.7 million, the report estimates.
Business revenues would range from $231 million to $329.3 million, the study said, while construction-related wages would total as little as $92.2 million or as much as $132.1 million.
The study's authors calculated that, after construction, the facility would produce $245.3 million a year in general economic activity, and produce state and local taxes of $25.9 million a year. Jobs in and around the facility would come to $146.3 million a year, the report states.
All of the dollar figures refer specifically to jobs and revenues in Kern County, with the exception of taxes. Economic impacts on Los Angeles County and elsewhere were broken out separately.
The report notes that although the facility could potentially stimulate additional economic activity by supporting transportation-related industries, that scenario should be considered unlikely.
"Even without a local supplier network, however, the high-speed rail heavy maintenance facility would be a valuable contributor to Kern County," the report concludes.
"At full operation, the facility would bring 1,500 relatively well-paid, stable jobs to an area which suffers an unemployment rate that consistently exceeds the statewide average. Purchases made by households supported by these jobs will create additional demand for local goods and services. Based on existing commute patterns and an examination of the residential pattern of employees at the Target Distribution Center (in Shafter), we would expect that approximately half of the employees of the facility would be based in Bakersfield, creating an economic impact in that city as households spend their earnings.
"Nevertheless, maintenance of the (High-Speed Rail) fleet would be less prone to disruption due to swings in the state economy, and the facility would therefore contribute to the diversification and stabilization of the local economy."
Email This Page!