$36B Military Economic Impact on Maryland in 2008

The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development released a 56-page report on Thursday conducted by the Jacob France Institute of the Merrick School of Business at the University of Baltimore. Embedded within the detailed report was data from the 2008 fiscal year regarding the economic impact of the military on Maryland.

Seventeen military bases – including Fort Meade, Andrews Air Force Base, Aberdeen Proving grounds, and others – accounted for 3.4% of the work force in Maryland. $10 billion in wages was distributed to the people working in Maryland’s military installations which spent $6.6 billion throughout 2008 with other businesses in the state. In total, the report states that the military bases made a $36 billion dollar impact on Maryland.

Although this report doesn’t offer any comparison to previously gathered information, these statistics from 2008 offer a benchmark for future reports to use as base realignment and closure (BRAC) relocates tens of thousands of military jobs from New Jersey and Virginia to Maryland.

Also featured in the report are some details concerning Fort Meade. The National Security Agency, which operates on Fort Meade, employs about 50,000 of the 118,000 people working on Maryland military bases. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that approximately 3 million Marylenders in total are currently working.

The military activity at Fort Meade is anticipated to grow even larger in the near future as a result of a 227-acre, $5.2 billion expansion for the NSA which will provide an additional 11,000 jobs there. The expansion is taking place due mostly to the ever growing focus on cyber security.