By Mary C. Mayhew

Hospitals are not solely stewards of their community’s physical health. Above and beyond supporting access to health care, Florida’s hospitals are critical contributors to healthy local economies here in the Sunshine State.

Florida has a lower unemployment rate, greater job growth, and greater real GDP growth than the national average. The state also ranks second in the nation for net state-to-state migration, a testament to our state’s family-friendly environment and quality of life.

Hospitals are a significant contributor to this success. Florida hospitals’ total annual economic contribution to the state is $198 billion, according to the latest hospital economic impact report from the University of Florida-IFAS. Their economic activity supports more than nine percent of Florida’s total workforce and accounts for almost nine percent of the state’s Gross State Product.

Florida’s hospitals are truly an economic engine.

Hospitals are also powering the economy as employers and reliable purchasers of essential goods and services statewide. Nationally, even as other sectors have cut back on jobs, health care remains a major growth sector for employment, with the need for reliable, high-quality care only intensifying as the population ages.

In Florida, hospitals are among the state’s largest and most stable employers, and their economic contributions continue to grow. The University of Florida-IFAS hospital economic impact report documents that in 2023, 337 Florida hospitals provided 343,952 in-demand jobs with $34.5 billion in annual wages, salaries and benefits for employees to support their families. Combined with affiliated businesses, they support an estimated 976,834 full-time and part-time jobs.

As Florida’s population grows, hospitals grow along with it, ensuring high-quality, timely medical care is available when and where it is needed. Between 2021 and 2023, Florida’s hospitals added 11 percent more jobs and nearly 7 percent more value to the state’s economy.

This growth mirrors national trends where, as the Wall Street Journal noted in February, “all of America’s jobs growth now comes from a category (health care and social assistance) responsible for less than 15 percent of total employment.” While payroll growth in every other sector of the economy turned negative at the end of last year, health care employment grew by 12.5 percent.

Beyond their role as employers, Florida’s hospitals are robust economic engines as purchasers of essential goods and services, contributing $23.3 billion in local, state, and federal tax revenue.

The linkage between Florida’s thriving economy and being a destination of choice and the contributions of Florida hospitals as employers, purchasers, and health care providers is undeniable. Florida has one of the nation’s most enviable and growing economies, and our hospitals are foundational economic pillars and economic engines. As Florida’s population continues increasing and aging, the state’s continued economic success is intertwined with sustaining a vibrant, financially strong, and sophisticated health care system ready to deliver high-quality modern health care services today and well into the future.

Mary Mayhew is President and CEO, Florida Hospital Association.