Study measures economic impact of intellectual property

by MBJ Staff

Published: August 8,2012

Tags: economic impact, intellectual property, invention, inventor, law enforcement, patent, state government, study, theft

JACKSON — A national study shows intellectual property (IP) is a huge contributor to Mississippi’s economy and thus directly indicates the importance of protecting intellectual property rights through enforcement, Attorney General Jim Hood reports.

The state intellectual property jobs study, titled “IP Creates Jobs for America,” was released by the Global Intellectual Property Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The report builds on an earlier report, which had focused on IP-intensive industries throughout the supply chain. This new report takes into account the economic contributions of IP outside the supply chain and its broad impact on the U.S. economy.

“This first of its kind study shows that intellectual property-intensive companies have a direct and significant impact on jobs, productivity, and competitiveness in every state of the union,” said Mark Elliott, executive vice president of the GIPC. “Intellectual property’s economic contributions are evident across all states, large and small.”

Some of the findings include:

• IP supports 440,685 jobs in Mississippi, which is 46 percent of our state’s private sector jobs. Of these, 171,543 (18 percent) are direct IP jobs; 269,142 (28 percent) are indirect.

• IP-intensive companies generate 68 percent greater output per employee (the average output per private sector employee is $64,870 while the average output per IP employee is $109,124). In Mississippi, $109,124 of output per IP job creates a total of $202,558 output in the state economy.

• Of $10.9 billion in total exports, $9.2 billion (84.4 percent) is attributable to IP exports; 58,528 jobs are created by IP exports in Mississippi.

• In Mississippi, IP-intensive companies pay 27 percent higher than non-IP companies (the average wage per private sector employee is $30,830 vs. $39,223 in average wages per IP employee); $39,223 wages paid to an IP job creates a total of $85,455 wages in the state.