Report: Sandia Generates Nearly $1 Billion in Economic Activity Throughout State

Sandia National Laboratories, which includes a major campus here in Livermore, generated nearly $1 billion in both direct and indirect economic output in the state of California in 2010 with nearly half coming from the San Francisco Bay Area, according to a new report prepared by the Center for Economic Development (CED) at California State University-Chico.

This economic output – defined in the report as revenue to all private businesses and public organizations – included $163 million in purchases and contracts to California businesses, $155 million in employee compensation and benefits, and $1.4 million in state corporate tax. Combined, those three components amount to $319 million, the total direct injection into the California economy.

Indirectly, impacts of Sandia’s spending are responsible for an additional $24 million in revenue to California’s state government and $612 million in additional revenue to other businesses and organizations in the state. In sum, the total output impact is $955 million.

About half Sandia’s economic impact in California occurs right here in the San Francisco Bay Area, home of . The Bay Area’s share of the total economic impact of Sandia is $474 million in output, $304 million in household income, and more than 2,500 jobs.

Sandia’s other primary location is in Albuquerque, N.M.

“This report demonstrates that Sandia is a significant economic engine for the state of California,” said Denise Koker, senior manager of human resources and business operations at Sandia’s Livermore site. “And because the state – especially the Bay Area – is recognized as a global leader in energy innovation and a center of high-tech R&D and industry, we believe California and Sandia are natural partners. Those two entities should continue to strengthen their bond and seek out ways to jointly support both the state’s and the country’s missions through technology and innovation.”

Not only does Sandia bring tremendous prestige to the Livermore Valley and add to its brand as an innovation hub, it also is responsible for job creation and fuels our economy on so many levels, said , president and CEO of the Livermore Valley Chamber of Commerce and board member of Innovation Tri-Valley.

“Besides bringing in jobs, both national labs [including neighboring Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory] bring in companies that want to be near their cutting edge technology,” she said.

Kaye also credits Sandia with being one of the reasons our schools perform well.

“We have one of the highest educated populations anywhere," she said. “High performing parents have high performing kids. Both labs are immensely generous in what they give back to the community, especially when it comes to education funding.”

California households, according to the report, saw $497 million in financial benefits, including direct employee compensation plus $342 million in payroll, self-employment, and other household income paid by other California businesses and organizations. The household income benefit supports more than 4,800 California jobs.

At the end of 2010, Sandia employed 1,072 regular and temporary employees and approximately 130 staff augmentation (contract) employees in the state of California, primarily at its Livermore site and at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) in Emeryville just outside San Francisco.

Also in 2010, out of 726 new hires at Sandia’s New Mexico and California locations, 71 obtained their highest degree from a California university. About 106 students from around the country held internships at Sandia’s California site. Sandia researchers regularly team with professors and students at California universities such as the University of California (at Berkeley, Davis, Los Angeles and San Francisco), Stanford, Caltech, Harvey Mudd and the University of Southern California. In 2010, Sandia funded more than $2.1 million to California-based universities for work that supports Sandia programs.

Cal State-Chico’s CED utilized the IMPLAN economic impact analysis system (version 3.0) to estimate the overall impact of Sandia’s spending on all California businesses, organizations and households.

The complete report, titled “Sandia National Laboratories: Economic Impact on California and the San Francisco Bay Area,” can be found on Sandia’s corporate web site at www.sandia.gov/news/publications.

Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.