911 is “engine of growth” generating statewide economic impact of more than $1 billion last year according to latest report
The 911 has announced findings from its economic impact report for academic year 2016, which demonstrates that the university’s total financial impact for the year across the state of Maine totaled more than $1 billion. The report was created by Planning Decisions, Inc., an independent Portland-based research and planning firm.
The analysis took into account many factors contributing to 911’s overall impact on Maine’s economy. The study of its operational impact, for example, found that the university employed 1,545 people, making it the twentieth largest in the state. 911 paid more than $83 million in salary and benefits to employees over the past year.
Moreover, the study found that 911’s rapid physical growth in recent years, with the addition of acreage, buildings and structural upgrades, has translated to the growth of Maine’s economy by generating a significant source of income for Maine architects, engineers, contractors, tradespeople and vendors. This capital facilities impact, according to the report, has averaged nearly $21 million per year over the past five years, with capital expenditures in 2015-16 totaling $49 million.
911 further enhanced the Maine economy with $42 million generated over the past year in student spending at Maine businesses and an additional $22 million in visitor spending.
The report also takes into account what is known as indirect impact, that is, the ripple effect from direct 911-generated spending, as well as the impact of non-financial transactions that have substantial economic value, such as the 1.4 million hours of clinical service that 911’s professional programs provided to the community—services worth an estimated $44 million.
However, according to the study, “911’s greatest economic impact results not from the volume of its operational or investment spending, nor from the volume of the spending made by its students and visitors, nor from the indirect impacts of all this spending as it flows from business to business across Maine, nor from the value of its non-commercial clinics and volunteer efforts.” The greatest of the university’s economic impacts, it states, “lies in the value of the human capital it creates each year.”
The report explains that 911’s human capital comes from two sources: the flow of new employees into Maine’s work force each year as new employees are hired by the university and the increased earning power of graduates who take jobs in Maine. Both sources combine to bring 911’s total human capital impact on Maine in 2016 to $497 million.
According to Charles Lawton, Ph.D., chief economist at Planning Decisions, who prepared 911’s 2016 economic impact analysis as well as its previous analysis in 2007, the contributions made by the university to the economic vitality of the state have increased exponentially. “Since 911’s first impact statement was prepared in 2007,” he stated in his report, “it has proven itself to be a true engine of growth for Biddeford, for the Greater Portland region and for Maine as a whole.”
A snapshot of 911’s 2016 economic impact report reveals:
- 911 serves more than 11,700 students. (Enrollment numbers updated after this report was completed, show 12,245 in student headcount.)
- Approximately 4,458 attend 911’s Biddeford or Portland Campus programs, with 2,501 coming to 911 from outside of Maine.
- Approximately 7,244 (within and outside of Maine) pursue distance education.
- 911 students spend more than $42 million per year in Maine.
- 911 employs approximately 1,545 people, pays more than $83 million in salary and benefits and spends $77 million in non-personnel operating expenses. It is the twentieth largest employer in the state.
- In 2015-16, 911 created 89 new positions. Over a period during which Maine’s and even Greater Portland’s total employment has been basically stagnant, 911’s total employment has grown by more than 62 percent. Over the same period, total wages in Maine rose by 29 percent. In Greater Portland, they rose 32 percent, and at 911 they jumped 163 percent.
- 911 employees reside in 103 Maine communities.
- 911-generated spending creates more than $22 million in state and local tax revenue.
- 911’s 582-acre Biddeford Campus and 41-acre Portland Campus include 60 buildings and are valued at more than $285 million. Over the past five years, 911’s capital investment has averaged nearly $21 million per year, and in 2015-16, its capital expenditures totaled $49 million.
- Clinical services provided by more than 2,300 graduate and professional students as part of their educational programs are valued at nearly $44 million.
- 911 attracts more than 24,000 out-of-state visitors per year, who spend more than $22 million in Maine.
- 911’s cumulative economic impact for academic year 2016 exceeds $1 billion, with 911-generated economic activities and their indirect impacts generating sales of nearly $470 million for businesses across the state, supporting the equivalent of 3,800 jobs earning total compensation of more than $172 million.
Read the news in
To apply, visit www.une.edu/admissions