CLEVELAND -- A new study shows that NASA's Glenn Research Center helps drive Northeast Ohio's economy. Pare back research at GRC, as the center is called for shorthand, and the region hurts -- as do its builders, restaurants, retailers, tax coffers and numerous Glenn suppliers.

There's no current threat of that, however. Even when President Donald Trump released a budget that sought cuts in many major areas of government, GRC escaped intact, thanks to its research on space propulsion.

Trump wants to send astronauts to Mars. GRC wants to propel them there.

Congressional appropriators are working on spending bills to turn funding requests into reality. "So far, so good," says Marty McGann, senior vice president for advocacy for the Greater Cleveland Partnership, which looks out for the community's business interests.

He and others in the community are nevertheless pleased to see their high regard for GRC affirmed by this study, the latest in an annual series conducted by Cleveland State University. While parts of the analysis are worded in economist-speak, here are six highlights that not only are noteworthy but that also don't take a rocket scientist to understand.

1. Glenn is an economic engine.

The center generates over $700 million annually in economic activity, including wages, and supports over 7,000 jobs, according to the analysis, conducted by CSU's Center for Economic Development. NASA Glenn also generates nearly $500 million in labor income and over $125 million in tax revenue per year.

Some of those jobs and their spinoff economic benefit are created indirectly; not every restaurant server or real estate agent who interacts with GRC employees can say NASA is solely responsible for his or her job. The CSU analysis used economic multipliers, or what the authors described as a chain of spending triggered by wages, contracts and purchasing.

But GRC directly spent $639.3 million in 2016, for everything from pay, scientific and professional services, supplies, equipment, even waste services. That triggered spending of another $760.6 million across the region, for a combined total of $1.4 billion, the analysis says.

"For example, NASA Glenn's spending caused a $212.1 million increase in total sales by the professional, scientific, and technical services industry and a $42.1 million increase in sales -- direct, indirect, and induced -- by the construction industry," the study says. "If NASA Glenn did not exist in Northeast Ohio, the regional output in the administrative and waste services industry would drop by $86.5 million."

2. GRC jobs depend on Washington's whims.

Every federal budget and every spending bill in Congress is watched closely by GRC and the broader Cleveland business community. NASA's mission and the goals of manned spaceflight and space science can change with each president, and federal spending fluctuates anyway.

NASA's 1,572 civil service workforce is lower than it was not long ago, as is the number of contractors working with GRC, 1,625. But the numbers improved slightly -- by nine employees for GRC itself -- in 2016.

3. Want to work for NASA? Go to college.

This is one smart workforce. Seventy-one percent of the jobs are held by scientists and engineers, professions that require a degree.

Thirty-one percent of GRC employees have bachelor's degrees. Another 37 percent have master's degrees.

And 17 percent hold doctoral degrees.

4. Wages are good, though flat.

GRC's payroll in 2016 was $175.6 million. Average pay was $111,726.

That was actually down from 2015. But a slight bump in employee benefits counteracted the cut, the CSU study says.

Since 2012, wage growth has been low. From the study: "Between FY 2012 and FY 2016, there was a slight increase of 0.6% in the total average wage per civil service employee."

Bear in mind that for the study's purposes, the comparisons over the years were inflation-adjusted. In nominal terms -- that is, not adjusting fully for the fact that inflation eroded a bit of buying power -- average wages increased 3.5 percent between 2012 and 2016, according to the study's footnotes.

5. Lots of GRC spending stays in Ohio.

GRC spends a lot money on goods and services. Most of it goes to vendors and contractors in Cuyahoga County.

6. GRC gets universities to help with research. California benefits the most.

Of $12.9 million GRC spent last year on academic grants and contracts for research and development, California universities -- no slouches in R &D -- got the most. Then came Maryland, Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

Of Ohio's nearly $1.1 million share, 35.9 percent went to Case Western Reserve University and 33.7 percent went to Ohio State University. Cuyahoga Community College got $158,014.