Job Growth at Nonprofits Is 3 Times as Much as at For-Profits

Topic: Nonprofit Rate of Job Growth Outpaced For-Profit Rate by Over 3 to 1 Over Past Decade

Organization: Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies

Summary: From pre-recession 2007 through 2016, nonprofit employment grew by nearly 17 percent while for-profit employment grew by less than 5 percent. After the recession, nonprofits added jobs at a rate that was nearly four times that of for-profit businesses as of 2016, the latest year for which Bureau of Labor Statistics data is available.

Nonprofit wages topped $638 billion in 2016, the third largest payroll in America, behind manufacturing and professional services. The center reported in May that nonprofits are the country’s third-largest employer, with 11.9 million workers, trailing only the retail trade and manufacturing.

While overall job growth and wages for nonprofits are on the rise, the report notes “recent shifts in national policy have disadvantaged nonprofits in a number of pivotal fields.” The 2016 data reveals declines in the nonprofit share of employees from 2012 to 2016 in a number of areas, including social assistance, hospital care, nursing, and residential care.

Among the other findings:

• The nonprofit employment growth rate over the recent decade exceeded that of for-profit firms in 49 of 50 states, as well as in Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
• Nonprofits account for over 90 percent of staff in U.S. private higher-education institutions, 84 percent in private hospitals, and 42 percent in private social-assistance organizations.
• In 2016, nonprofit wages exceeded those generated by manufacturing in nearly half of all U.S. states.

A more thorough analysis will be available on the Center for Civil Society Studies site in September.