News Release
Nonprofit workers earn $1.4 billion annually, employ more than manufacturing Nonprofits in the state of West Virginia employ some 55,000 workers, more than manufacturing, mining, construction or state government, a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies has found. The report, which was presented today to Gov. Robert E. Wise at a meeting in Charleston, W.Va., gives a detailed portrait of nonprofit employment in that state and is part of a nationwide effort to document nonprofit employment. Through the Nonprofit Employment Data Project at Johns Hopkins, researchers are working in several states to uncover the true extent of nonprofit employment by comparing tax records (which detail nonprofit status) with data compiled by employment bureaus. "This shows that nonprofits account for one out of every 12 employees in the state of West Virginia," said Sara Dewees, a Johns Hopkins researcher and co-author of West Virginia Nonprofit Employment. "Comprising private hospitals, clinics, social service providers, museums, art galleries, theaters, educational institutions and many more, the nonprofit sector is a significant economic force," said Dewees, who presented her findings to Gov. Wise today. A copy of the report is available online at www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/home01/mar01/pdf/wvreport.pdf. Among some of the other findings: Over 60 percent of all nonprofit employment in the state is in the health services sector. Twenty-four percent, or nearly one of four nonprofit jobs, are in social and legal services. The average weekly wage of nonprofit employees is higher than that in industries where both sectors are actively engaged. The data in this report draw on tax records and reports filed by employers with the West Virginia Bureau of Employment Programs and covers the period through the end of 1999, the latest year for which data are available. The Hopkins-led Nonprofit Employment Data project is working in a number of states, including Maryland, North Carolina, Illinois, Minnesota, Georgia and Louisiana, among others, to gather nonprofit employment information. This is the first report on nonprofit employment in the state of West Virginia.
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