The university’s Economic Research Organization — UHERO — says it was worth $3.61 billion for the 2012 fiscal year. That money accounts for UH’s estimated economic impact, including indirect and direct benefits associated with university-related expenditures, according to a report released today. 

UH generates economic activity through purchases from local businesses, employee salaries and student and visitor spending. UHERO defines economic impact as the “direct, indirect and induced economic activities generated by the university’s spending in the state economy.”

From the report’s executive summary:

• Total UH related expenditures (including visitor spending) were $2.32 billion in FY 2012, $1.84 billion of which was spent locally.
• Together with additional indirect and induced benefits from these activities, UH had a total impact of $3.61 billion on Hawai’i’s economy.
• Each UH-related dollar spent generates $1.96 of total business sales, $0.59 of employee earnings, and $0.11 of state revenues in Hawai’i in FY 2012; and each million dollars of spending generates 15 jobs in Hawai’i.
• The $2.32 billion of education-related expenditures attributable to UH generated $3.61 billion in local business sales, $1.10 billion in employee earnings, $194 million in state tax revenues, and over 28,500 jobs in Hawai’i in FY2012.
• Each dollar of State General Fund spending on UH translates into $9.61 of total business sales, $2.91 of employee earnings, and $0.52 of state taxes in Hawai‘i. For every dollar of state funds spent on UH, the university system was able to leverage an additional $4.90 of spending in the state.

Read the full report.   

Courtesy of Tax Credits.

— Alia Wong