• New Findings Highlight Benefits of Outdoor Recreation Careers, Growth Potential
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 13 — A new report on the Outdoor Recreation Workforce, produced by the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR) and the Oregon State University Center for the Outdoor Recreation Economy (OSU CORE) highlights excellent jobs in the outdoor recreation workforce and underscores the important role workforce plays in supporting the overall outdoor recreation economy.
“The backbone of this thriving sector is a growing workforce that meets the dynamic needs of today’s fast-paced industry,” said Jessica Turner, Outdoor Recreation Roundtable President. “Right now, there are so many high-quality jobs that exist across the outdoor recreation industry for professionals with a variety of skillsets that provide outstanding lifelong careers.”
As folks continue explore the great outdoors to boat, fish, hunt, hike and recreate, the stress on the outdoor recreation workforce magnifies, with many sectors experiencing severe workforce shortages. For example, a 2019 survey of MRAA members found that there was a surplus of 31,000 job openings at the marine dealerships alone. A combination of an aging workforce, lack of established career pipelines and lack of awareness of the great jobs available in the outdoor industry have generated these unfilled roles.
The report, which MRAA Director of Workforce and Foundation Development, Wendy Mackie, contributed to, takes a deep dive into the career opportunities in the $689 billion outdoor recreation sector. It elucidates how these jobs can provide an outstanding quality of life, upward mobility and connect workers to the outdoors.
“It was an honor to work with the ORR, OSU CORE and others in the Outdoor Recreation Industry on this
Outdoor Recreation Workforce Report Highlights
• Deep and Diverse Jobs: The report illustrates the breadth, depth, and diversity of the outdoor recreation industry workforce, which totals over 4.3 million good jobs that help develop economies, increase rural prosperity, improve public health outcomes and quality of life, and promote environmental stewardship and conservation. The report organizes outdoor jobs into three categories: “Technical Specialists,” “Participant-Facing,” and “Integrators” to help the public understand the types of career paths for people with and without higher academic degrees.
• High-Quality Career Opportunities: The report also seeks to clear up misconceptions among the public and policymakers about the types and diversity of jobs in the outdoor recreation economy.
As a newly organized sector — including well over 110,000 small, medium and Fortune 500 businesses across America — many professional and technical careers in the outdoors are unseen or unknown by the public. Most participants in outdoor recreation activities only interact with consumer-facing employees, including retail and hospitality staff members, guides and outfitters, parking and campground attendants, and concessionaires who sell food, beverages, supplies and souvenirs at recreation hot-spots. While these important jobs certainly make up a segment of jobs in the outdoor recreation economy, there are also millions of professional and technical, full-time positions across the sector that are lesser known and provide competitive wages and meaningful careers. Today’s report helps illustrate the breadth of these roles.
• Outdoor Recreation is a Growth Industry: Multiple factors have converged to drive the significant growth in the outdoor recreation industry in recent years, with the corresponding increase in the number of jobs throughout the country, including in rural areas which are transitional from extractive and other industries and focusing more on recreation.
Finally, ORR also debuted a new Career Path module to help meet real people in the outdoor recreation industry. This digital resource features professionals across the outdoor recreation industry telling their stories about:
• How they arrived in their current roles.
• What they appreciate about their work/life balance.
• The advice they have for prospective workers who want to emulate their journey.
About the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas
At the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, we believe that for the marine industry to thrive, the retail organizations that interact with the boaters in their community must thrive. With that in mind, MRAA works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by uniting those retailers, providing them with opportunities for improvement and growth, and representing them with a powerful voice. For more information, visit MRAA.com or contact us at 763-315-8043.
