Nonprofits in Maryland are growing their workforces
nearly three times faster than the state's
for-profit sector, according to a recent Johns Hopkins
study. Nonprofit organizations now provide 9.6
percent of all jobs in Maryland, well above the national
average of 7.2 percent.
Employment in the state's nonprofit sector increased
by 2.9 percent during 2006, the latest
year for which such data are available. By comparison,
employment in the state's business sector grew
by only 1.1 percent. The 6,840 new nonprofit jobs brought
the state's total nonprofit workforce to
244,086 jobs at the end of 2006.
"Not only do nonprofits provide critical services and
opportunities for cultural expression, but
they also play a key role in the state's economy," said
Lester Salamon, director of the Center
for Civil Society Studies within the university's Institute for Policy
Studies and a leading expert on nonprofits.
"In payroll alone, nonprofit employees earned more than
$10.6 billion in 2006, generating significant
tax revenue and other economic benefits for Maryland.
Nonprofit job growth is especially critical
given the recent employment declines in other parts of the
U.S. economy."
Nancy Hall, senior adviser at the Maryland Association
of Nonprofit Organizations, said, "This
growth continues a long-term trend. Between 1999 and 2006,
nonprofit employment in Maryland grew
20.5 percent--nearly three times the rate of for-profit
jobs."
Additional findings of the report include the
following:
♦ Nonprofit job growth was especially strong in the
Washington, D.C., suburbs (3.8 percent) and
Baltimore suburbs (3.1 percent). This reflects a continuing
suburbanization of nonprofit jobs in the
state, with nonprofits in the Washington and Baltimore
suburbs employing well over half of all
nonprofit workers in the state.
♦ On the Eastern Shore, nonprofits experienced 2.9
percent job growth, while jobs in the
business sector declined by 0.4 percent.
♦ Nonprofit job growth also outpaced that of the
business sector in Western Maryland (2.3
percent vs. 0.3 percent).
♦ Although nonprofit job growth in Baltimore City,
at 1 percent, was well below the state average
of 2.9 percent, it still outperformed employment in the
city's for-profit sector, which declined 0.4
percent.
♦ The recent record of nonprofit job growth in
Maryland continues a long-term trend with
nonprofit employment in Maryland growing by 20.5 percent
between 1999 and 2006, compared to 7.1
percent job growth in the business sector.
♦ Fields that experienced above-average nonprofit
job growth include professional and scientific
services (40 percent), social assistance (30 percent) and
arts, entertainment and recreation (30
percent). While the hospital field experienced slightly
lower than average job growth, nonprofit
hospitals still added 14,449 net jobs over this seven-year
period.
To view the entire report, Maryland Nonprofit
Employment Update, which includes a county-by-
county breakdown of nonprofit employment, go to
www.jhu.edu/ccss.
The private nonprofit sector comprises private
universities, schools, hospitals, clinics, day care
centers, social service providers, symphonies, museums, art
galleries, theaters, environmental
organizations and many others. The report is part of the
Nonprofit Economic Data Project at The
Johns Hopkins University. The data in this report draw on
reports filed by employers with the
Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, and
cover the period through the end of
2006.