While job growth in the for-profit sector in Maryland
has remained stagnant, the state's nonprofit sector
continues to grow, adding 4,300 new jobs in 2003, the
latest year for which statistics are available.
According to a study by Johns Hopkins researchers, the
number of Maryland residents employed by nonprofits grew to
228,031 paid workers by the end of 2003. That's a 2 percent
increase over 2002 and means that nonprofit workers now
account for 9 percent of the state work force; the
for-profit sector, by comparison, grew by one-10th of 1
percent.
"What is striking is how the nonprofit sector
continues to serve as a countervailing influence to the
lack of job growth in the state's business sector," said
Lester Salamon, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies within
the university's Institute for Policy
Studies and a leading expert on nonprofits. "Even
during the recent economic downturn, job growth has
persisted in the nonprofit sector and has outstripped that
in the for-profit sector."
"One of the key things to know about this study is the
amount of tax revenue generated by these nonprofit sector
jobs," said Peter Berns, executive director of the Maryland
Association of Nonprofit Organizations, which helped
establish this annual jobs study and helps disseminate the
results. "There's a perception that nonprofits don't
contribute to the tax rolls, but in 2003 alone, nonprofit
jobs produced close to $2 billion in state and federal
income tax revenue." Nonprofit workers earned $8.6 billion
in 2003.
The report is part of the Johns Hopkins Nonprofit
Employment Data Project, which seeks to quantify the size
and scope of nonprofit employment in Maryland and elsewhere
in the United States.
Some other key findings of the latest Maryland
report:
More people in Maryland work for
nonprofits than in manufacturing or construction.
Close to one-third of all private
jobs in Baltimore City — 28 percent — derive
from the nonprofit sector, which leads the state and
emphasizes the importance of the nonprofit sector in
Baltimore. Thirty-six percent of all nonprofit employment
in the state is in Baltimore City.
Job growth in the nonprofit sector
was strongest in the suburbs surrounding Baltimore and
Washington and now accounts for 52 percent of all nonprofit
employment in Maryland.
The nonprofit sector employs twice
as many workers as do the state's entire banking, finance
and insurance industries combined.
Nonprofit employment in Maryland's
rural areas remains strong; a full 12 percent of the
state's nonprofit jobs are in Western Maryland and on the
Eastern Shore.
Over the past decade, nonprofit
employment in Maryland has grown 29 percent, while private
for-profit employment has grown 16 percent.
The private nonprofit sector is comprised of private
universities, schools, hospitals, clinics, day care
centers, social service providers, symphonies, museums, art
galleries, theaters, environmental organizations and many
others. To view the entire report, including a
jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction breakdown of nonprofit
employment, go to
www.jhu.edu/~ccss/research/pdf/md2005.pdf.
The data in this report draw on reports filed with the
Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation by
employers and cover the period through the end of 2003.
The Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies is
publishing this report in collaboration with the Maryland
Association of Nonprofit Organizations, the largest state
association of nonprofit organizations in the United
States, with more than 1,500 members representing a wide
array of nonprofit activity.
For more information, visit the CCSS Web site at www.jhu.edu/ccss.
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