Emory's total economic impact estimated at $2.4 billion

With nearly 13,750 employees, Emory is the fourth largest private employer in metro Atlanta behind corporate giants Delta Air Lines, AT&T and Bell South Corp. According to a recent economic impact study, direct spending by Emory and its students, retirees and visitors totaled $1.1 billion in metro Atlanta last year and rippled through the community to create an additional $1.3 billion in spending from other Atlanta area industries, for a total economic impact of $2.4 billion. The business that Emory generates every two years nearly equals ACOG forecasts of a $5.1 billion boom in Georgia's economy from the 1996 Summer Olympics.

"Much of a university is more than teachers and students in classrooms. A fine university is a complex organization with research, patient care and many forms of community service," said President Bill Chace. "Good cities are made more prosperous and vital by the presence of a good university."

In addition to Emory's 13,750 jobs (FTE), building projects at Emory provided for another 2,150 construction-related jobs during fiscal year 1994. Based on U.S. Department of Commerce employment multipliers, economic activity at Emory supported another 23,800 jobs throughout the Atlanta area. As a result, nearly 40,000 jobs in Atlanta were either directly or indirectly leveraged by the University.

Since 1989, Emory's impact has grown 33 percent from $1.824 billion to $2.421 billion.

A note about the study

Economists use two basic measures in calculating economic impact: direct and indirect impact. Direct impact includes employment and payroll numbers, institutional expenditures for goods and services, and similar figures. To estimate indirect impact, economists multiply jobs, expenditures and other hard data by a series of economic multipliers from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Multipliers for the Atlanta region and appropriate industries (healthcare, education, etc.) were used to estimate indirect impact in the Emory study.

The Emory study was conducted by Hammer, Siler, George Associates, an Atlanta-based economic and development consulting firm with data from Emory, the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Emory data consists of expenditures and employment by all academic units of the University; the Emory System of Health Care consisting of Emory Hospital, the Emory Clinic and Crawford Long Hospital; and The Carter Center.

-- Jan GleasonMetro Atlanta Expenditures

(in millions)

Direct Indirect Total

Emory University System[1] $910.7 $1,085.1 $1,995.8

Student Expenditures[2] $56.3 $47.3 $103.6

Visitor Expenditures[3] $41.0 $41.0 $82.0

Retiree Expenditures[4] $11.9 $10.5 $22.3

Construction Expenditures $96.8 $121.0 $217.9

Total Expenditures $1,116.7 $1,304.9 $2,421.6

1. Includes Emory Hospital, Crawford Long Hospital, The Emory Clinic and The Carter Center.

2. Based on 9,024 students enrolled at Emory.

3. Based on 187,000 overnight campus visitors.

4. Based on approximately 575 Emory retirees living in metro Atlanta.Emory's total economic impact estimated at $2.4 billionEmory's total economic impact estimated at $2.4 billion