Study: San Bernardino County supports 45,000 trade jobs

Study: San Bernardino County supports 45,000 trade jobs The international trade industry supports more than 45,000 jobs in San Bernardino County, but this growth is coming at the price of infrastructure, labor and environmental impacts, an academic report has found.
   The report, conducted for the 2005 year by Claremont Graduate University, found that the county with adjacent Riverside County handled $17.5 billion worth of trade in 2005, up from just under $4 billion in 2000.
   Of the total, San Bernardino County handled $14.9 billion in imports and $917 million in exports, the report said.
   The San Bernardino region handled more than 2.4 million tons of trade merchandise from the Port of Los Angeles and more than 1.7 million TONS from the Port of Long Beach in 2005, the report said. The Port of San Diego shipped 617,000 tons into San Bernardino County.
   To keep growing at these levels, the report said the trade industry must find more trained workers, and develop more accessible roads, railways and airports. Cleaner engines and fuels, the report said, will be needed to avoid higher levels of pollution from increased trade and transportation.
   The county spent $35,000 on the policy institute’s report and plans to use the data to devise an international trade strategy. Two students conducted the Claremont study and compiled data over two months.