In a report released last month by industry group the Brewers Association, they revealed that the US craft beer industry contributed a whopping $67.8 billion to the U.S. economy, as well as more than 456,000 jobs in 2016. The figures were obtained by the Brewers Association via its annual “Beer Industry Production Survey” and the bi-annual “Brewery Operations Benchmarking Survey” as well as additional market data.
The $68 billion represents a 22 percent increase from 2014, when the last set of data was collected and the industry contributed $55.7 billion to the U.S. economy. Despite declining sales growth the brewers association noted that the industry is experiencing much steadier year-on-year growth. It also noted that there was an increase of 906 brewers from the previous year to a new record high of 5,562 operating breweries in the U.S. with approximately 2,739 breweries in planning.
Source: the drinks business, September 2017