A Business and Economic Development report provides hard data that proves UNM’s significance to the state economy.
The Office of the President and the Office of Research’s most recent economic impact report indicates the University brought in $1.1 billion in out-of-state revenue to New Mexico in the 2010 fiscal year.
Julia Fulghum, vice president of the Office of Research, said it’s crucial for the University to explain its contributions to the state economy in this difficult economic climate.
“I think in this critical budget time it is part of our job to continually make the case as to why the flagship university is important and why supporting us is important,” she said.
Overall, UNM campuses spent 70 percent of out-of-state funds in ways that directly and indirectly impact the local economy, said Doleswar Bhandari, a business research scientist who drafted the report.
“There is direct spending on employee compensation, purchases and construction,” he said. “Because of that, employees buy stuff from the market and pay their rent. The vendors also have to purchase from other suppliers, and it introduces a kind of ripple effect into the economy.”
The 2010 report also found that UNM provided more than 25,000 jobs, or 2.3 percent of the state’s salary employment. This includes all branch campuses, the UNM Health Sciences Center, UNMH and anyone else on the UNM payroll.
Bhandari said UNM jobs are funded through local and out-of-state funds, such as grants. He said it’s hard to determine how much impact UNM jobs have on the economy because out-of-state funds have the greatest effect on UNM’s yearly economic influence.
“If there is no UNM, that (local) money might be spent somewhere else in creating jobs and other economic opportunities,” he said. That’s why we don’t consider the local dollars. The New Mexico economy is facing a challenging situation, and the University provides stable jobs. Those are not fluctuating over time.”
Lee Reynis, director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research, said UNM’s economic impact is less recognizable than its educational and research contributions.
“What is not always appreciated is how UNM is able to leverage this state appropriation and other state and local revenues to bring millions of dollars into this state that support additional economic activity,” she said.
The report is missing information that could change the analysis of UNM’s impact on the economy, such as out-of-state students who live off campus and UNM contractors not included on the payroll, Bhandari said. He said the data for one year does not portray the University’s impact in the long run.
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“This impact is just a snapshot for fiscal year 2010, and there is a bigger, dynamic long-term impact that the analysis cannot capture, because it is more complicated,” he said.
