Reporteth the Mountaineer:
Haywood Community College is responsible for injecting at least $92.8 million into Haywood County during the 2012-13 fiscal year, through the combined impact of operations, construction and the spending habits of their students, visitors and alumni. The economic impact is equal to approximately 6.0 percent of the total Gross Regional Product of Haywood County and is equivalent to creating 2,474 jobs.
First off, it is good I don’t go to HCC; my spending habits would skew the analysis. (My bank, the same one that freezes the credit card in the middle of the Mojave and when I score front and center seats with Ticket Master, is now trying to sell me life insurance.) Secondly, I would be interested in seeing these economic analyses performed for all businesses and agencies working out of or importing into the community to see how many jobs we can total.
It does not, however, showcase the overall impact that an institution has across the region, state or nation. In other words, those who graduate from HCC and find work outside of the Haywood County will not be reflected on this report.
OK. To be fair, let’s do it for the whole world. If we think globally, we won’t have to levy taxes to pay companies to land in our little gerrymandered piece of the map.
