The U.S. beer industry recorded $409.2 billion of economic output in 2022, making up about 1.6% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to latest Beer Serves America report, a biennial study commissioned by the Beer Institute (BI) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).
John Dunham & Associates (JDA) conducted the survey, using data from Data Axle (formerly Infogroup), the Brewers Association (BA), BI, NBWA and state and federal governments. The study is used by beer advocates when stressing the industry’s impact with legislators.
The industry’s output increased by more than $75 billion compared to 2020, when the industry recorded $332 billion in economic output, according to the last Beer Serves America report. However, the beer industry’s share of the U.S. GDP remained unchanged at 1.6%. While that may at first appear concerning, with inflation causing beer prices to rise, it may actually be a good sign for beer and its ability to stay relevant through inflationary pressures, according to NBWA chief economist Lester Jones.
“In real terms, we’re about holding our own,” Jones said during a virtual press call Friday. “If you are a beer retailer, do you want to have a 6-pack of beer on your shelf that’s keeping up with inflation, or do you want to have a 750 ml of vodka that is the same damn price that it was 20 years ago?
“That’s a powerful statement when you look at this 1.6% of GDP and you can see the value behind the numbers and what it brings to our retailer partners,” he continued. “It’s a story that we just don’t tell enough in our industry and it should be screamed from the highest mountain.”
Beer’s economic output also “far outweighs” the output of both wine and spirits, according to BI VP of research Danelle Kosmal. The wine industry recorded $276 billion in economic impact in 2022, while spirits put out $200 billion, according to Kosmal, citing a JDA wine report and data from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS).
“That sheer basic number of $409 billion of beer’s economic impact really speaks to the power of beer [and] the importance of beer to the U.S. economy,” Kosmal said during Friday’s press call.
“The tremendous growth we’ve seen since our last report is a true success story that underscores beer’s striking recovery coming out of the pandemic and showcases the resilience of our industry and the 2.4 million Americans it employs,” BI president and CEO Brian Crawford said in a statement shared with Brewbound. “The beer industry has always had a storied place in American culture and commerce, and as these new figures confirm, we have an incredibly bright future ahead of us.”
The production and sale of beer and other malt beverages generated more than $63.8 billion in state and federal tax revenue in 2022. Nearly $48 billion in tax revenue was attributed to direct taxes paid by beer businesses and employees. The consumption of beer generated an additional $4.9 billion in federal and state excise taxes, $9.9 billion in state sales taxes and nearly $1.1 billion in other beer-specific local taxes.
Brewery, Retailer and Supplier Jobs Up; Wholesaler Jobs Down
The total U.S. beer industry generated 2.4 million jobs in 2022, up from 2.04 million in 2020. Beer and beer importers directly employed nearly 92,160 people, up from 67,600 in 2020. The jump is due in part to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and a loss of more than 150,000 jobs in 2020 due to on-premise closures and restrictions, according to the previous Beer Serves America report.
More than 46% of brewery and importer jobs were linked to large and mid-sized breweries, a drop from 50.8% in 2020. The shift was partially due to more jobs at microbreweries and brewpubs than previous years, speaking to “the role of different size of breweries and the importance of different sizes of breweries,” Kosmal said.
More than 8,000 beer facilities operated in the U.S. in 2022, according to JDA. The majority of those facilities (66.7%) were microbreweries, up from 64.7% in 2020, followed by brewpubs (28.3%, down from 29.9%). About 15,000 of the nearly 25,000 jobs added to the beer industry since 2020 came from microbreweries and brewpubs, according to Kosmal.
About 4,277 bev-alc wholesaler locations operated in 2022, 3,191 (74.4%) of which supply malt beverages, according to the report. That number does not include wholesale operations that are directly owned and operated by breweries. Beer wholesalers employed 137,420 people in 2022, down from 141,676 in 2020. That drop was due to a tight labor market in 2021 and 2022, with distributors struggling to find qualified and/or licensed workers, Jones said.
“Most all of our members have open positions right now,” Jones said. “We continue as an organization to struggle with the CDL [commercial driver’s license] rules and regulations, trying to make that easier for our members to accommodate.”
Still, overall employment in beer distribution is up +11.3% since COVID-19-related shutdowns, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, boosted by continued malt beverage innovation and the growth of imports and small and regional beer producers.
“Distributors still face significant labor challenges, from CDL drivers to workers to load trucks,” NBWA president and CEO Craig Purser said in a statement shared with Brewbound. “And it underscores the continued importance of supporting independent local retailers, particularly with the growth of national retail chains.”
Retailers selling malt beverages employed 979,805 people in 2022, up from 801,770 in 2020, led mainly by the slow return of on-premise business. On-premise retailer employment is now +3.9% above 2018 levels, recovering from a -22.4% decline in 2020 versus 2018. Off-premise retailer employment remained relatively flat in 2022 versus 2020, after a +17% increase in 2020 versus 2018.
“The retailer numbers are pretty strong, [but] I think they could be a lot stronger just by helping to grow on-premise trade for beer and draft in particular,” Jones said.
Draft beer sales have struggled to return to pre-pandemic levels, accounting now for about 8.5% of total beer volume, down from its historical 10% trend.
“Hopefully in a year, we see even more economic output from our on-premise partners with respect to beer,” Jones said.
Suppliers – firms that produce and sell everything from malt-beverage ingredients, to fuel, to packaging materials and sales displays – generated 522,238 jobs in 2022, up from 447,265 jobs in 2020. Suppliers generated just under $124.6 billion in “economic activity,” above the nearly $101.9 billion generated in 2020.