A new study shows how Louisiana's hospitals are responsible for providing economic stability to its communities.
The study, by the Louisiana Hospital Association, indicates hospitals account for 1.9 percent of all healthcare establishments in Louisiana, yet they provide 38 percent of total healthcare employment. Hospitals also account for 43 percent of the total payroll of the healthcare sector.
According to the report's author, James Richardson, an alumni professor of economics at Louisiana State University, Louisiana's 212 hospitals in 2006 provided jobs for 95,352 people with an annual payroll of more than $3.62 billion. "Hospital jobs require a wide spectrum of skills and have higher average pay scales than other service sector industries," the report said.
"The economic significance of the hospital industry spreads far beyond the doors of the hospitals," Richardson said. "From 2007 to 2008, Louisiana hospitals averaged construction expenditures of $827.7 million per year. Hospitals also spent on average $572 million per year on capital expenditures associated with new equipment. These construction expenditures led to the creation and support of 14,175 jobs per year."
Personal earnings from direct and indirect jobs associated with a hospital's business transactions amount to $10.8 billion a year, the study found. These jobs include not only hospital workers, but also construction jobs that might be associated with building homes for hospital employees and service-related jobs, including persons working in wholesale and retail or persons working in other personal and business services.
"Every dollar spent by a hospital supports $1.12 of additional business activity," Richardson said. "Each hospital job supports approximately 1.5 additional jobs."