NORTH KINGSTOWN – Quonset Business Park’s economic and workforce growth is on an upswing, according to a Bryant University report that was on released Tuesday.
The report on the Economic Impact of the Quonset Business Park returned for the first time since 2019, when it presented data from the previous year.
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The report, prepared by Bryant economics professor Edinaldo Tebaldi, highlights Quonset’s $5.9 billion annual economic impact on the state’s economy. In 2018 – the last year that data was available – this figure sat at $4.26 billion.
Quonset’s economic metrics rose in several key areas, such as the number of direct full-time equivalent jobs at the business park: From 2018 to 2022, this figure rose 19.7%, according to the report, or from 11,439 to 13,580 jobs. The park indirectly supports another 11,281 positions.
By 2030, the report projects that Quonset will support 16,695 direct jobs, and 13,869 indirect and induced jobs.
The current existing jobs draw from 229 companies located within the business park, the report states. Seven companies shut down or left the park between 2018 and 2022.
The report identifies 7,680 of all Quonset positions as “high-paying manufacturing jobs,” representing 19% of all manufacturing employment in the state.
The park reported an average wage of $69,656, compared to the statewide average of $62,979.
Overall, that contributed $1.72 billion in income to Rhode Island households last year, according to the report, or 5.1% of the state’s labor income. That’s a 33.6% increase from 2018, when the park generated $1.28 billion in Rhode Islanders’ incomes.
Additionally, the business park increased its physical presence, adding 4.3 million square feet in new facilities and increasing its developed area by 626 acres between 2018 and 2023.
Quonset currently has another 156.9 acres of land available for multi-use development, and an additional 82.2 acres under negotiation of agreement.
On another metric, the business park generated a total of $169.1 million in tax revenues in 2022, the report notes, up from $128.8 million in 2018.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
