Emily Kubis | Nashville Post
The health care industry in Nashville contributed nearly $39 billion to the region’s economy in 2014, according to a new study published by the Nashville Health Care Council and the Business Economic Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University.
The study, authored by Dr. Murat Arik, found the $38.8 billion generated by the industry marked a 32.9 percent increase from the Council’s 2010 study. The local health care cluster, which includes the core industry as well as related businesses and professional services, comprised 249,345 local jobs, an increase of 18 percent.
The industry accounts for an estimated $1.5 billion in state and local taxes, and creates $21 billion of personal income, the study found. The study also projected that one in every 11 new jobs in Tennessee will be in health care by 2022.
Unsurprisingly, the Nashville industry is bolstered by locally-headquartered publicly traded companies. In 2014, there were 15 such companies, with more than 500,000 employees and revenues greater than $73 billion. The number of publicly traded companies, as well as industry revenues and employment, rank Nashville second in overall business climate, above Atlanta, Birmingham, Denver, Dallas and Indianapolis.
The study also covered the industry’s impact on Nashville commercial real estate. In 2014, the health care cluster occupied 34.7 million square feet of office space, 17.4 percent of Nashville’s total office and industrial space.
“The importance of the health care industry to the Middle Tennessee region cannot be overstated, and this study provides what a tremendous impact the industry is having not only on a local level, but across the country and even across the world,” Mayor Karl Dean said in a release. “Our health care community has grown throughout the recent economic slowdown, and thanks to the $38.8 billion impact to our local economy, Nashville has been able to grow too.”
http://nashvillepost.com/news/2015/8/18/study_nashville_health_care_industry_has_39m_economic_impact