Around one in every 40 jobs in Arizona is related to the military. That’s according to an updated study out this month by the Arizona Military Affairs Commission.
According to the study, nearly 79,000 jobs are part of what’s called military industrial employment.
That includes about 42,000 people employed at military facilities — like active duty service-people and contractors. It also takes into account some 19,000 jobs indirectly related — like foods and goods industries that serve the military.
The commission undertook this study more than two decades ago — in 2000.
Back then, it found a higher percentage of jobs were military-related — and a higher number of actual people employed. But the economic impact of those jobs is almost three times higher today.
Luke Air Force Base near Glendale is home to what the U.S. military calls the largest fighter wing in the world.
A new state-funded report says the West Valley base produces roughly one quarter of the total economic output of all military operations in Arizona.
The report prepared for the Arizona Military Affairs Commission says Luke Air Force Base injected about $4 billion into the state economy last fiscal year.
Base officials say the dollar figure associated with direct, indirect and induced operations rose by almost two-thirds since the study was last done about six years ago.
Most of the military’s F-35 fighter jet pilots train at Luke.
Nearly 20,000 jobs are linked to operations at Luke, which translated to about $1.5 billion in paid wages last year.
