It’s that time again! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and political campaign ads are covering commercial space like white on rice. With so much talk of GDP, job creation, and debt,those of you in the commercial real estate industry must be thinking, “Gee, what can I do to contribute to the U.S. economy?”

Good news! According to an article in Buildings Magazine, Where America Goes to Work, the commercial real estate industry offers a significant contribution to the the U.S. economy.

Now, this fact may seem the most obvious during construction phases when workers look like ants covering a sticky sweet mélange of cranes, machines, equipment, and supplies. But, actually, the larger and longer-lasting impact of the commercial real estate industry actually comes “after the ribbon cutting,” when the buildings’ high operating expenses contribute to the local economy through job creation, personal income and a higher tax base, year after year.

The numbers to back this statement up come from BOMA International’s new economic impact study entitled, Where America Goes to Work: The Contribution of Office Building Operations to the Economy, 2012. Overall, the study details the impact of commercial office spce on the national and local economies. The results of the study were announced on June 25th in Seattle during BOMA International’s annual conference.

Here is one of the study’s key findings:

• For each dollar spent on office building operations, the national economy gained $2.57, with the result that $79.7 billion in annual operating expenditures contributed a total of $205.1 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011 – equivalent to the state of California’s annual budget.

The study truly reveals how important the commercial real estate industry, and office building operations in general, are to the U.S. economy. For an idea of how important we really mean, check out this quick stat: 9.9 billion square feet of office space represented across 94 markets houses 44.3 million workers. Do you hear that pitter-patter? Sounds like job creation to me.

And that’s good reason to celebrate Labor day!