Seventeen counties grew faster and 15 slower than 1.7 percent. Sparsely populated Sierra County had a 6 percent gain in total employment while six counties lost jobs. A local economy is dependent upon the flow of money into the area. The imported money is mixed and churned, going from person to person, business to business, all the time being consumed. When it is consumed, it leaves the local area.
Money enters a local economy through the business activity of the primary industries.
When something is made locally and sold outside the local area, money is imported and the wages paid to the workers enter the local economy. In nine out of ten local economies in the United States, manufacturing is the most important primary industry. Other typical primary industries include mining, farming, transportation of goods, wholesaling, and tourism. If the wages paid to the employees are generated from the sale of goods or services outside of the local area, it is contributory. Consumptive industries, such as retail, are dependent upon the flow of money into the local area.