Oneida Indian Nation enterprises have generated more than 7,000 new jobs in Oneida, Onondaga, and Madison counties since 1992, the year development began on the Turning Stone Casino, according to the first of a multi-part independent analysis conducted by the Upstate Institute at Colgate University.
Of 7,155 full-time positions created, the Upstate Institute found, approximately 97 percent of them were held by non-Nation employees.
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Report Highlights
• During the 2004 fiscal year, 4,215 people total worked for the Oneida Indian Nation. The group projects employment will reach 5,000 during the 2005 fiscal year.
• Of all Nation workers in 2004, 3,613 of them — about 86 percent — lived within Oneida, Onondaga, and Madison counties. About 97 percent of employees were non-Nation members. These 3,613 jobs translated to 3,585 full-time equivalent jobs.
• Nation enterprises indirectly created an additional 1,642 jobs in the three counties through the multiplier effect. (Indirect employment is the result of increased demand or other goods and services created by Nation employees’ spending and vendor purchases.)
Significant capital expenditures of $140 million in 2004 supported another 1,928 jobs in construction and related industries. This brings the total number of new jobs generated in Central New York to 7,155.
• Direct and indirect employment created by the Nation resulted in more than $46 million in income tax revenues for the state and federal governments in 2004.
• The Nation paid out $109 million in wages, company-provided medical coverage, and company-provided retirement benefits in 2004 — up from $44 million from the Turning Stone Casino’s first year of operation in 1993.
• Jobs created by Nation operations touch on numerous fields, including day care, telecommunications, public safety, facilities, communications, finance, gaming, entertainment, food and beverage, auto repair, landscaping, and information technology.
• The Oneidas spent more than $350 million on construction and employment during the past three years. During the 2004 fiscal year, construction and equipment expenditures amounted to $175 million.
• Nation vendor payments in the 2004 fiscal year reached $342.3 million in New York state, with $59.8 million of this total going directly to firms and individuals in Oneida, Onondaga, and Madison counties. Vendor purchases include raw food and beverages, golf course fertilizers, cleaning supplies, office equipment, utilities, and other services and products necessary to keep the group’s enterprises functioning daily.
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Jill Tiefenthaler, director of the Upstate Institute, and Chris Brown, a senior at Colgate majoring in economics, calculated the numbers after looking at Oneida Indian Nation financial statements, employment figures, and other economic data.
The complete study is available here. (PDF file)
Forthcoming segments of the study will examine what effect the Nation’s operations might have on several other measures of the region’s well-being — including tax revenue, bankruptcies, crime, and social service costs — and the impact of its vendor spending on local output.
During the 2004 fiscal year, Tiefenthaler and Brown determined that the Nation had generated 3,585 full-time equivalent jobs in Oneida, Onondaga, and Madison counties and stimulated the creation of 3,570 more positions in related local industries since 1992, bringing the total number of jobs generated to 7,155.
“The Nation has become one of the largest employers in Central New York,” said Tiefenthaler, who also serves as associate dean of the faculty and professor of economics at Colgate. “While some other traditional employers have been reducing the size of their local workforces over the years, the Oneida Nation has steadily, and rapidly, increased its employment.”
Tiefenthaler noted that the percentage of non-Nation workers is significant for an Indian nation operating a tribal casino. By way of comparison, about 57 percent of employees at tribal casinos in Arizona are non-Indian workers.
“The Nation’s substantial capital investments have also had a positive impact on Central New York’s employment numbers in recent years,” added Tiefenthaler.
“In 2004, for example, the $140 million in capital expenditures by the Oneida Nation supported more than 1,900 jobs in construction and its subsidiary industries. Although these jobs are not permanent, these capital investments are important because direct employment will continue to increase as the facilities come on line later this year,” she said.
Colgate’s Upstate Institute serves as a resource for organizations and individuals seeking regional expertise or information about upstate New York.
Directed by a senior member of the faculty, the organization has inventoried the interests of more than 40 members of the Colgate faculty and staff whose work relates to upstate New York, from the environment and ecology of the region to its history, arts and economy.
Caroline Jenkins
Office of Communications and Public Relations
315.228.6637
