By Kari Williamson
In the report, Economic Impacts of the American Steel Industry, Considine notes: "Every one job in the US steel industry supports seven jobs in the US economy, reflecting its ripple effect on employment."
In 2011 the American steel industry employed 150,700 directly, and supported more than 1,022,009 jobs.
Considine points out that the significant economic impact of the industry is based on the fact that steel is the most prevalent material in the economy, and the steel industry purchases a wide variety of inputs from other industries that create a favourable ripple effect.
The indirect impacts support jobs in industries supplying the steel industry with inputs of energy, materials and services.
A third and final set of economic impacts arise from the stimulus that additional labour and capital income provides for households to spend on goods and services.
"These so-called induced impacts together with the direct and indirect impacts constitute the total economic impact of the industry," the report states. "Thus, for every dollar increase in sales for iron and steel mills and ferro-alloy industries, total output in the US economy increases by US$2.66."
Taking into account the 1,022,099 jobs supported by the steel industry, it contributes over US$101 billion in value added and US$246bn in gross output to the US economy.
Based on tax multipliers used in the analysis, during 2011 the steel sector generated nearly US$23bn in local, state and Federal taxes.
Considine's analysis was commissioned by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).