Retired Racehorses

This result is 7 percent lower than the
12,500 employee estimate generated
by the 2005 survey, probably for
several reasons. Employment
estimates can vary by source because
of differences in definition. Definitions
are a challenge throughout farming and
agriculture because of the seasonality
of employment, dependence on
family labor, and the use of part-time
employees. In the equine sector, the
employment picture is clouded further
by the use of volunteers on many
equine farms. But, in addition, the
survey respondents were not asked to
identify the location or residence of their
employees. A fraction of all employees,
however, likely reside in border states
and commute to jobs on New York State
equine farms. After taking indirect and
induced changes in employment into
account, our IMPLAN® model results
suggest that the equine sector accounts
for about 15,200 jobs statewide.
Rearranging these results yields
economic multipliers using, in turn,
gross output, value-added, and total
employment as a unit of measure
as in Figure 3. Each gives its own
impression of the generative effects
associated with the sector. The valueadded
multipliers are the most robust
by a small margin, with each additional
dollar of value-added estimated to
generate $1.31 after taking indirect
effects into account. Building in
induced effects on value added brings
the multiplier estimate to $1.73. Output
multipliers occupy a middle ground
with employment measures suggesting
relatively weak indirect and induced
effects for the industry. This suggests
that a relatively large proportion of
equine business expenses go to instate
input providers that feature
either relatively low wages or relatively
high output/employment ratios.
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