Countywide : UC Irvine Economic Impact on County Grows 4%

UC Irvine’s economic impact on Orange County grew by more than 4% over the previous year, campus officials said this week.

UCI broke the $1-billion mark in 1993, and posted a $1.041-billion economic impact for the fiscal year 1993-94, according to a report by the Office of Financial Planning.

“Considering what’s happened in the state economic crunch, these are very good figures,” UCI spokeswoman Karen Newell Young said. “It’s been a pretty bleak outlook for a few years, but this is a bright note.”

Major sources for funding included tuition and fees, federal and state governments and grants.

UCI employed nearly 12,000 people as of April, and is the county’s third-largest employer, Young said.

UCI paid $343 million in salaries and benefits during 1993-94, about 84% of it to Orange County residents.

It also paid vendors $188 million for goods and services, although about three-quarters of those vendors are from outside the county.

The university’s outside research funding grew by 3% to $1.1 million in 1993-94, a crucial part of UCI’s goal to reach the ranks of the top 50 research institutions by the year 2000.

Private funding plummeted to $20.6 million, however, a 17% drop.

UCI’s $1-billion economic impact estimate also includes factors that represent what employees, vendors and others spend in the community, as well as other secondary purchases and services.