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Report Reveals Impact Of Mass. Military Bases

A new report on Massachusetts' six military installations has found that the bases support more than 45,000 jobs and add over $13.7 billion to the state's economy each year.

Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray and members of the Military Asset and Security Strategy Task Force on Tuesday announced the preliminary findings of the report conducted by the University of Massachusetts' Donahue Institute.

The announcement came just one day after the institute, in conjunction with the Defense Technology Initiative, released a report outlining the economic impacts of federal defense and homeland security contracts on New England's economy in 2011. That study found that such contracts added $33.9 billion to the region's economy last year - an 85 percent increase from eight years ago

Martin Romitti of the Donahue Institute said when combined, the two studies create a "more comprehensive picture of what the defense industry and the jobs associated with that really are."

He said the Massachusetts study created, for the first time, a comparative look at each of the state's six military installations: Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, Barnes Air National Guard in Westfield, the U.S. Army's Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Fort Devens, Hanscom Air Force Base and the Massachusetts Military Reserve on Cape Cod.

This study found that in fiscal year 2011, the six installations employed 14,500 full and part-time active reserve and guard military and civilian personnel. More than 30,000 Massachusetts jobs are also supported through spending at the bases.

Hanscom Air Force Base, the headquarters of the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center, had the largest economic impact of all the Massachusetts bases, contributing more than $8.4 billion in fiscal year 2011 through operational and procurement activities.

The U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center contributed more than $4.4 billion to the economic during the same period. The Natick base, which employs over 14,000 people, also specializes in areas like technology research and development.

Meanwhile, total spending for the six installations, including payroll, contracts and research and development, reached $9.1 billion during the 2011 fiscal year, with an additional $4.6 billion coming from indirect and induced economic activity in the state- a total of over $13.7 billion.

Because of this, Murray, the task force's chair, said Massachusetts cannot afford to overlook the value of these jobs and how they relate to national security.

This program aired on June 26, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.

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