According to year 2000 US Census, 273,230 Oklahomans, or 7.9% of the state's population, are Native American. Native Americans are the largest minority group in the state. The economic impact of Federal funding for Tribal programs on the Oklahoma economy is well in excess of $1 billion dollars annually. The Cherokee Nation has a major economic impact in the State of Oklahoma. Approximately 135,000 of the Cherokee Nation's tribal members live in the State of Oklahoma. Cherokee Nation operates on a budget of more than $200 million a year. Eighty three percent of the budget is federally funded and appropriated to more than one hundred different programs and services on behalf of Cherokee citizens. Seventeen percent of the budget is Tribally generated and goes to the General Fund for the operation of Cherokee Nation government. In order to understand the impact that the 6,642 employees and 759 students, employed by Cherokee Nation, Cherokee Nation Industries, Cherokee Nation Enterprises, Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation, Cherokee Nation Home Health, Hastings Indian Hospital, and Claremore Indian Hospital, has on the Cherokee Nation's service area and constituent counties, we first must account for eight major expenditures: General Expenditures
Payroll
Cherokee Nation Industries
Cherokee Nation Enterprises
Housing Authority
Home Health
Emergency Medical Services
Hospitals
Direct Expenditures | $288,277,552 | Direct Employment | 6,642 |
Each direct expenditure becomes income to someone and is then re-spent. Multiple rounds of local expenditures and employment are therefore attributable to the Cherokee Nation. The economic activities brought into the service area counties indirectly create and supports millions of dollars of additional local earnings and well over one thousand non-Cherokee Nation jobs. Indirect Earnings Attributable to Cherokee Nation | $44,500,608 | Indirect Employment Attributable to Cherokee Nation | 1,811 |
An extremely important economic impact that the Cherokee Nation also has is the creation of education. The United States Census estimates the additional lifetime earnings from different levels of education. Using that data and the number of 1999 graduating participants in three different educational programs (Head Start, Sequoyah High School, JTPA, and Job Corps), an estimate of the present value of that lifetime income was calculated. This value represents the amount of money that would have to be invested today to create the additional lifetime earnings estimated by the Census. Present Value of 1999 Education Created $42,090,690
Employment (Direct and Indirect) County | County Employment | Percentage of Total | Adair | 1,511 | 17.87% | Cherokee | 3,358 | 39.73% | Craig | 70 | 0.82% | Delaware | 615 | 7.28% | Mayes | 645 | 7.63% | McIntosh | 3 | 0.04% | Muskogee | 352 | 4.17% | Nowata | 52 | 0.61% | Ottawa | 57 | 0.68% | Rogers | 629 | 7.44% | Sequoyah | 863 | 10.21% | Tulsa | 102 | 1.2% | Wagoner | 28 | 0.33% | Washington | 36 | 0.43% | Other Oklahoma | 132 | 1.56% | Out of State | 0 | 0.00% | Out of Country | 0 | 0.00% | Total | 8,453 | 100.00% |
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