Salmon farming wages contribute £165 million to economy
According to the report, primary salmon production led to local wages payment of 36 per cent in 2008 - 89 per cent of that in the Highlands and Islands.
According to the Scottish Government’s official statistics, fish farming, perhaps because of the relatively remote location of some of the employment, has a high income multiplier of 4.58 (compared to for example agriculture at 2.21). This means that for every pound paid to salmon farming employees , a further £4.58 is generated in the local economy.
“With over £5.5 million paid in employee wages and expenditure in local businesses every week, it is clear that many remote, rural economies remain reliant on a successful, sustainable and profitable salmon industry,” Scott Landsburgh, Chief Executive of SSPO stated in the report.
The industry research also showed that SSPO members employed 1,579 people in 2008. Some 201 jobs (13 per cent) were deemed to be held by migrant workers.
Professor Phil Thomas, chairman of SSPO, said in his foreword that he believed demand for salmon would continue to grow:
“In the EU alone, it is estimated that fish consumption will grow by a minimum 0.5 per cent per year in the next thirty years; across a market of a billion people that represents an enormous opportunity,” he wrote.
