Sign-Up Now: February 9th, 2012 is VT Nonprofit Legislative Day!
This recent Johns Hopkins Study finds nonprofit sector leading in national job growth! The report states “Nonprofits have been playing an unprecedented role during the current recession by responding to increased demands for services and have had to unfairly operate with a lack of access to equity funding, limits on the ability to lobby for government contract business and other negative policy shortfalls.”
A recent study published by the Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University concluded 
that on the national scale, nonprofit job growth for the last decade has been greater than the for-profit sector. Analyzing national data from 2000 through 2010, the nonprofit sector increased employment by 2.1% while the for-profit sector decreased employment by .6% on average during the same time frame. In Vermont, nonprofit sector changes in employment have positively grown since 2000 while for-profit jobs have declined by close to 3%.
While nonprofits have certainly been negatively effected by the economic woes facing the nation, overall nonprofit employment actually grew 2.6% during the first year of the recession and 1.2% during the second year. This is possible largely in part because many nonprofits work in fields that are less sensitive to the pressures of the business cycle, demographic shifts that call on more nonprofits services and government support for many of these services.
Nonprofits employed nearly 10.7 million paid workers in 2010, accounting for 10.1 % of the nation’s overall private employment and places the nonprofit sector as the third largest source for jobs behind retail trade (14.7 million workers) and manufacturing (11.5 million workers). According to the report, nonprofits have been “holding the fort for much of the rest of the rest of the economy, creating jobs at time when other components of the economy have been shedding jobs at accelerating rates.”
Crucial findings from the report:
- Nonprofit employment grew by 2.6 % during first year of the recession and 1.2% during second year of the recession.
- The nonprofit sector employs twice as many workers as the wholesale trade, finance and insurance, and construction industries.
- Nonprofit sector’s share of private employment is highest in New England reaching more than 16%.
- Overall nonprofit employment has been growing faster than overall for-profit employment because nonprofit employment is much more heavily concentrated in service fields.
- Government funding for many of the services nonprofits are involved with has been essential for maintaining and growing nonprofit sector jobs.
- Demographic trends, such as the aging of the population and female participation in the workforce, are boosting overall demand for many nonprofit services.
The study suggests the significant job creation potential of the nonprofit sector needs to be nurtured in regards to national and regional efforts to boost job growth. Job promotion efforts that are intrinsincly linked t o the income tax mechanism are found to be insufficient because they leave out this vital source of job creation for which income tax incentives have little impact.
Nonprofits have been playing an unprecedented role during the current recession by responding to increased demands for services and have had to unfairly operate with a lack of access to equity funding, limits on the ability to lobby for government contract business and other negative policy shortfalls.
The future of the nonprofit sector being a leader in job creation is at a critical juncture as public funding policy is being debated in state and the federal government while nonprofits are experiencing unprecedented demands for service.
Read the full report – Holding the Fort: Nonprofit Employment During a Decade of Turmoil
