Job Growth in Nonprofit Entities in Maine is Strong – Here’s Why


The 2008–2009 recession and aftermath caused employment to decline among private for profit businesses, the self-employed, and government before the jobs recovery took hold in 2011. The exception was private sector nonprofits, which added jobs throughout the downturn and recovery. Employment in private nonprofits increased 15,000 from 2005 to 2015; during the same period, total employment declined and then recovered to about the same level as a decade earlier. The 86,000 private nonprofit jobs in 2015 made up 13 percent of employment, up from 11 percent in 2005.

 

Job growth in private nonprofit entities has been more robust than any other employer class in the last decade

 


 
 
The preceding data and chart was drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which collects information on the number of people employed in nonprofits each year. Because of variability in estimates from year to year, we have used three-year averages. Estimates for 2005 are the average from 2003 to 2005 and estimates for 2015 are the average from 2013 to 2015.
 
An alternative look at nonprofits is available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period from 2007 to 2012. BLS looked at 501(c)(3) entities, a classification that includes establishments engaged in charitable, educational, literary, animal welfare, child welfare, public safety, religious, or scientific pursuits, and includes two out of every three nonprofits. In the five-year period through 2012, nonprofit jobs, total wages, and establishments grew steadily in Maine, with jobs up 8 percent. In the same period, other private-sector jobs decreased 5 percent due to the economic downturn and slow recovery. Nonprofit workforce growth in the state has trended in a direction similar to the nation, while for-profit workforce growth lagged national growth considerably due to the declining working-age population in the state.

 


 

Workforce growth in private nonprofits in Maine was close

to the national rate of growth between 2007 and 2012


 

 

The preceding data and chart was drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which collects information on the number of people employed in nonprofits each year. Because of variability in estimates from year to year, we have used three-year averages. Estimates for 2005 are the average from 2003 to 2005 and estimates for 2015 are the average from 2013 to 2015.
An alternative look at nonprofits is available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period from 2007 to 2012. BLS looked at 501(c)(3) entities, a classification that includes establishments engaged in charitable, educational, literary, animal welfare, child welfare, public safety, religious, or scientific pursuits, and includes two out of every three nonprofits. In the five-year period through 2012, nonprofit jobs, total wages, and establishments grew steadily in Maine, with jobs up 8 percent. In the same period, other private-sector jobs decreased 5 percent due to the economic downturn and slow recovery. Nonprofit workforce growth in the state has trended in a direction similar to the nation, while for-profit workforce growth lagged national growth considerably due to the declining working-age population in the state.

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