University creates thousands of new jobs
23 Jan 2014
New report reveals the University and its students helped to create and support more than 21,000 new jobs in the last financial year.
A study into the University’s economic and social impact also reveals that more than 18,000 of those jobs were created in Manchester itself, representing around 6% of new employment across the city.
According to the report, the University had a turnover of £807m in 2012/13 – more than Manchester United, Manchester City and Manchester Airport combined. As a non-profit making organisation, the University’s income all goes to support its educational and research mission.
With more than 40,000 students and 10,000 staff it is also one of the biggest employers in the region, which generates significant spending power to impact on the regional economy.
The University’s Director of Social Responsibility, Julian Skyrme, said: “Our social responsibility strategy commits the University to making a positive difference to the social and economic wellbeing of our local communities and the wider society. We commissioned Viewforth Consulting to establish an independent baseline of our social and economic impact across a selection of different areas in order to rigorously examine the impact we are making to the regional economy and to wider society.”
The study, entitled Measuring the Difference: the Economic and Social Impact of The University of Manchester, also looked at the University’s work in the local community and revealed some startling results – its student volunteers on one programme alone contributed £266,000 of economic value to the city region, through working in a variety of organisations across the city.
The University, in partnership with a number of employers and training providers, has also helped to take more than 1000 local long-term unemployed people into full-time work through its unique project, The Works, which was worth more than £16m of economic value last year, according to the report. Out of the 1,000 people recruited so far, 98% had been unemployed for at least six months.
Steve Grant, Assistant Director of HR, said: “We found that very few local, unemployed people were applying for jobs at the Universities, so it’s great that we’ve been able to raise awareness of the jobs on offer and our recent recruits are now making a tremendous impact. As major employers in the city we are pleased that our work with local communities has led to such success.”
The study by Viewforth examined the University’s role as a major enterprise sparking wide-ranging economic and social benefits, creating jobs and output in the city, across the region and in the rest of the UK.
For the full report visit: