The Economic Base

The growth of an area's economy is somewhat dependent on exporting goods and services--attracting outside money into the area's economy. Industries bringing in new dollars are termed basic. Incoming money can be spent locally on goods and services, and hence support local jobs. Industries which are partially dependent on the basic industries for their survival are called non-basic.

Although textiles are still very important, the economic base of the four-county area has diversified over the twenty years under consideration, with a variety of sectors producing exports. The wood products industry's contribution to the area's economic base can be estimated based on its share of income and employment within the manufacturing sector (which was 7% of manufacturing income and 6-8% of manufacturing employment in 1990). Comparing these figures to the same statistics for the three-state region and U.S. in general leads to the conclusion that the wood products industry is less important to the economic base in the Chattooga watershed area than it is for the region or the nation.

Many of the new service jobs are not dependent on other basic industries for their survival, because they too are exporting goods and services and importing cash into the local economy. Universities like Western North Carolina University in Cullowee, NC, and Clemson University in Clemson, SC, contribute to the economic base as well by exporting knowledge in exchange for tuition and other fees, and attracting research dollars to the area. Some employment in businesses catering to tourists and recreationalists should be considered part of the economic base as well, because they are not dependent on other basic industries in the area. Non-labor income is also a part of the economic base, as it acts in the area economy in the same way as export-derived income. "The increase in non-labor income is significantly changing the economic base of the four-county watershed area" (Morton 1995).

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