Summer Fall 2017

7 Summer/Fall 2017 continues  very day, thousands of hos- pital employees travel to Oregon hospitals to serve the many patients walking through hos- pital doors for treatment. From the office staff checking in patients, to the nurses and doctors triaging and treating all types of ailments, to the hardworking café work- ers serving food and coffee—each hospi- tal employee performs an important role in the care and treatment of each patient and their family. But not only do these hospital employees provide a valuable service to their com- munity, the jobs are also hugely important to Oregon’s state economy, according to a new study. Both hospital jobs and hospi- tal-related jobs (jobs that are influenced by hospital operations) account for one in 20 jobs across the state. In some parts of the state, especially in rural Oregon, that number climbs as high as one in ten jobs. A closer look at the numbers A recent study commissioned by OAHHS and conducted by Portland firm ECONorthwest used data from the Amer- icanHospital Association’s annual survey to gauge the importance of hospitals to Oregon’s economy. “Job growth in the healthcare sector has been robust during the past few years,” said John Tapogna, President of THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF OREGON COMMUNITY HOSPITALS ECONorthwest. “Urban and rural com- munities across the state benefit from healthcare jobs and operations, which support our aging population and pro- vide middle and higher-income jobs.” How robust is this growth? In Oregon, hospitals added 2,569 jobs to the state’s economy from 2013 to 2015. In general, the data shows the health care sector in Oregon has higher job growth than other industries within the state. And in Oregon, hospitals are in the top ten sectors employing Oregonians. Local impacts going a long way The impact and importance of these jobs is clear: hospitals provide stable, well-pay- ing jobs that give employees the ability to support a family. Not only do these jobs help drive local economies, they make E According to the data Oregon commu n i t y ho s p i t a l s we r e responsible directly and indirectly for over 117,000 jobs to Oregon communities in 2015, the most recent year that data is available.