As both President Obama and Mitt Romney make the case for creating jobs, they are ignoring one of the fastest growing job creators in our economy: the nonprofit sector. For the sake of our economy, the growth and health of this sector should be a priority for the next President.

The size and scope of the nonprofit sector may be surprising. There are almost 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the country, including well-known brands like the Girl Scouts, Habitat for Humanity, United Way, and the YMCA, as well as many smaller and more community-based service organizations, schools, congregations, sports leagues and hospitals.

Taken all together, the sector generates almost $1.5 trillion in spending per year and employs about 1 in 10 American workers, or 13.5 people. It is the third largest labor force behind retail trade and manufacturing.

Read the rest of my opinion piece on CNN.com about how the nonprofit sector’s rate of job growth has far surpassed business over the past decade, and how the next President can invest in this sector as a force of good for our communities, democracy, and economy.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/19/opinion/schmitz-nonprofit-jobs/index.html

– By Paul Schmitz, Public Allies CEO and author of “Everyone Leads: Building Leadership from the Community Up”