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By definition, culture gives a society spiritual, intellectual and emotional depth as well as values, traditions and beliefs. All that, and money too, according to the state Department of Cultural Affairs.

A report from the department says New Mexico's culture industry generated more than $2.8 billion in direct economic impact to the state in 2005. The industry employed at least 43,000 people, paid about $540 million in salaries and generated $210 million in state and local tax revenues.

"This study makes the case that by all the important measures - employment, payroll, tax revenues or attendance figures - cultural activities are critical to the economic health of New Mexico," said department Secretary Stuart Ashman.

Of the $2.8 billion, $1.3 billion represents arts and cultural industry expenses, such as wages, rent and utilities, while $1.5 billion is spending by tourists on cultural activities and related services like restaurants and hotels. Cultural tourism makes up about 30 percent of revenues in the $5 billion tourism industry, New Mexico's largest private sector employer, the report says.

The numbers were compiled by department economist Paul Narbutas using data primarily from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and TravelScope, a national survey that reports on trips to New Mexico.

Narbutas measured total expenditures, earnings and employment derived from cultural resources and cultural tourism. Included in the study were performing arts, visual arts and crafts, arts councils, museums, historical and archaeological sites, living traditional communities, libraries, festivals and fairs, writing and publishing, film and recording, and architecture and design.

The categories follow "the way culture is defined on a consensus basis around the world," Narbutas said.

He said culture is a huge industry, and an underappreciated one in terms of economic impact.

"Everyone reads about the Santa Fe Opera or a museum with a great new exhibit, but people forget how important culture is in other aspects of the economy," he said. "They don't think of the bigger picture, how culture has to do with the way civilization progresses from one generation to the next."

He said the 43,000 culture-related jobs outpace manufacturing, which employs 38,000 New Mexico workers.

The kinds of jobs generated by culture are suited to all parts of the state including rural areas, where there are numerous monuments and museums, Narbutas said.

"Culture is all over the place," he said. "New Mexico is rural in nature, and we can create jobs easily in this industry. Cultural sites generate visitation, which generates stores and gas stations and restaurants. You go out there and you find people working."

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, sponsors World Heritage sites, and three of them are in New Mexico, outside big cities: Chaco Canyon, Taos Pueblo and Carlsbad Caverns. New Mexico is the only state with three such UNESCO sites.

"There are whole countries without a World Heritage site," Narbutas said.

The state's central urban areas, Albuquerque and Santa Fe, are culturally rich, Narbutas said.

"In Albuquerque you have a whole host of cultural activities: Old Town, the Natural History Museum, the Atomic Museum, the art museum, the Disney center, Popejoy Hall, Albuquerque Little Theater," he said. "Culturally speaking, Albuquerque is very much a central ground for many things, and it draws by far more tourists than any place else in the state."

The Cultural Affairs Department has looked at cultural statistics in the past, but without consistency because the federal economic classifications used to compile the numbers are have changed.

"It's a little different each time we do it," Narbutas said, making year-to-year comparisons difficult.

But he said there's no question the sector is growing.

"New Mexico is very much perceived as a cultural destination," he said.

Ashman said the department's research shows cultural activities are economically sound investments.

"New Mexicans are great supporters of their cultural resources with tax dollars, donations and volunteer efforts," he said. "Our study demonstrates that the investment is returned."