KNOXVILLE – A new study shows that the combined economic impact of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, on the state of Tennessee is more than $915 million.
Because of the broad range of purchasing and relationships that the campus and its employees have statewide, UT economists say this impact translates to 1.8 additional jobs for every person working on campus, and $3.10 in income for every dollar directly earned by university employees.
UT Knoxville’s Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) not only examined the direct impacts of campus operations, payroll, purchases and tax revenue, but also the indirect impact of campus spending. The analysis uses 2007 information.
The study found that UT Knoxville provides 12,723 full-time and part-time jobs with a payroll totaling $295.8 million. The campus also spent $138.8 million on goods and services, and generated $68 million in tax revenues for state and local governments.
In addition, spending by the university’s 26,400 students generated significant economic activity in the state, with an estimated $156.1 million in student spending creating around 2,200 jobs with $66.1 million in payroll.
In fact, during FY07, CBER economists found that spending by the campus, its students and employees was responsible for almost 23,000 people working in Tennessee.
“This report is based on a conservative, though comprehensive, analysis of the income, jobs and tax revenues arising from the Knoxville campus’ activities,” said UT economist Bill Fox, CBER director and author of the study.
The report does not include, however, income created by visitors to the Knoxville campus for athletic and academic events, conferences and other purposes.
“In addition to the economic impact on the state, UT Knoxville offers many qualitative benefits to people across the state,” Fox said, including a better-educated and better-trained workforce, cutting-edge scientific research and discovery and new business incubation for local and state economies.
The report is based on information from FY07, Fox said, but the conclusions remain valid.
“The economy has changed radically since these numbers were collected,” he said, “but the university continues to have an impact at least as large as was measured in the study, because federal stimulus funds have deferred significant cutbacks in our teaching and research functions.”
The study included nearly 12,800 faculty, staff and students, who work for the Knoxville campus and the athletic department. It did not include other Knoxville-area employees who work for the UT system or other UT campuses or institutes.
Founded in 1794, UT Knoxville offers more than 300 degree programs and is the state’s largest comprehensive, research-extensive university. UT Knoxville students come from every Tennessee county, every state and more than 100 other countries. There are more than 300,000 UT Knoxville alumni.
To read the report, visit http://cber.utk.edu.
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C O N T A C T :
Bill Fox, 865-974-6112, billfox@utk.edu
Karen Collins, 865-974-5186, karen.collins@tennessee.edu