Report: Boeing good for $6.1 billion boost to S. Carolina economy

A new study says Boeing Co.’s decision to build and assemble some of its 787 Dreamliners in South Carolina will add $6.1 billion annually to that state’s economy.

Washington and South Carolina competed for an additional assembly line for the 787 last fall. Boeing’s first 787 assembly line is at the company’s Everett plant.

The study by Miley & Associates Inc. for the Alliance for South Carolina’s Future predicts that Boeing’s presence there will create 15,000 jobs. Those job numbers include Boeing’s own 3,800 workers and workers for suppliers and jobs created by the spinoff effects of those new jobs.

Boeing is investing $1.03 billion in capital in the state, though the state will provide a significant portion of that investment in outright grants and tax incentives.

The study predicts that if Boeing’s investment in South Carolina grows as quickly as that of BMW, which built its first U.S. assembly plant there 17 years ago, the company will employ some 9,500 workers and have made $10 billion in investments in the state in 17 years.

In addition to building an assembly plant in North Charleston, S.C., Boeing bought plants that formerly belonged to its partners in the 787, Vought Aircraft Industries and Alenia. Those two companies made major sections of the 787 at plants in North Charleston.

Although South Carolina successfully lured Boeing with incentives, the alliance said the state needs to reduce its tax on industrial properties, a tax that one study rated as the highest in the country.

Boeing said it picked South Carolina over Washington because the company’s biggest Puget Sound union, the International Association of Machinists, and the company couldn’t reach agreement on a long-term labor peace agreement.

South Carolina is a “right-to-work” state where union organizing is more difficult.