This column typically features how NRPA research findings promote the park and recreation field. First, we strive to produce data that help park and recreation professionals better serve the public through benchmark data, including that presented in Park Metrics and the Agency Performance Review. Second, the NRPA Research team identifies data and insights that help support your agency’s mission for more stable and greater funding. The Americans’ Engagement with Parks Survey, Economic Impact of Local Parks study, and Park Pulse polls demonstrate this mission.

This month, we will highlight two data series from outside of NRPA, namely, the federal government, that highlight parks and recreation. One series celebrates the field’s impact, the other notes recent investment trends.

Outdoor Recreation’s Contribution to the GDP

In 2016, Congress enacted the “Outdoor Recreation Jobs and Economic Impact Act,” which charged the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) with conducting “an assessment and analysis of the outdoor recreation economy of the United States and the effects attributable to such economy on the overall economy of the United States.” The BEA is the federal agency that reports on the size of the U.S. economy with its quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates that you may read about in the news. Prior to passage of this act, the BEA already had created “satellite” accounts for several other sectors of the U.S. economy; including, arts and cultural production, travel and tourism, and healthcare.

This past September, the BEA released its Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account report, which states that outdoor recreation accounted for $412 billion of GDP in 2016. This is the equivalent to 2.2 percent of the total value of output produced by the United States that year. Nearly as notable, the outdoor sector of the economy grew faster than that of the overall economy: +1.7 percent versus 1.6 percent, respectively.

This report is another watershed moment for outdoor recreation, and, more specifically, for parks and recreation. Whereas these activities are often viewed in the light of simply being fun and relaxing, the BEA report builds on the growing literature that parks and recreation also is a critical facet of a dynamic economy. Having the federal government agency that’s charged with measuring U.S. economic activity place a dollar value on outdoor recreation’s contribution to business activity provides irrefutable evidence of the importance of investments in parks and recreation.

In recent years, NRPA has worked closely with George Mason University on measuring the economic impact of local park and recreation agencies on the U.S. economy. The most recent report — released early last year — found that local park and recreation agencies’ operations and capital spending alone were responsible for $154 billion in economic activity (including $81 billion contribution to GDP) in 2015.

The BEA and NRPA analyses reach similar conclusions even though they measure different things. The BEA only considered outdoor recreation activities, whereas NRPA looked at the full spectrum of indoor and outdoor park and recreation offerings. Further, the NRPA study narrowed its focus on solely local public park and recreation agencies, while the BEA report includes a full spectrum of public and private outdoor recreation organizations and companies (including manufacturing and retail sales associated with outdoor activities, private-sector concerts and tourism). However, the message of the two reports is the same: parks and recreation and outdoor recreation bring many benefits to Americans, including a robust economic contribution to local communities throughout our nation.

Construction Spending

According to another report, capital spending by state and local government gained traction in 2018, eight years into the economic recovery. The bad news is that parks and recreation has not necessarily benefited from this largess…at least not yet.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the value of publicly funded construction put in place over the first 10 months of 2018 totaled nearly $239 billion. This was 7.9 percent ahead of the same 10 months in 2017 and suggests that 2018 was the best year for publicly funded construction spending since 2009.

This is noteworthy as public-sector construction experienced a drastic slump during and after the Great Recession. The value of public-sector construction bottomed out in 2013 after having fallen 14 percent below its 2009 peak value. Should data trends through October hold for the remaining final two months, 2018 will go down as the second-best year ever for state and local government construction spending. A December article in The Wall Street Journal attributed the increase in state and local government capital spending to higher tax collections, boosted by surging sales tax receipts (helped by greater consumer spending and improved real estate valuations).

Unfortunately, the increase in capital spending on parks has not been as robust. In fact, state and local government spending on parks totaled $4.352 billion through the first 10 months of 2018, down 8 percent from the same 10 months of 2017. Also falling behind their 2017 paces were spending on neighborhood centers (down 15 percent from the first 10 months of 2017 to $908 million) and social centers (down 9 percent to $1.149 billion).

So, what does this foretell for 2019? Will the surge in public-sector construction spread over to park and recreation agencies, driven in part by the growing appreciation of the economic benefits of these amenities? Or, will a wobbly economic recovery lead to a pullback in public spending, further pressuring park and recreation capital expenditures? Time will tell.

Kevin Roth, Ph.D., is NRPA’s Vice President of Professional Development, Research and Technology.