MassTLC released data on Thursday that put numbers to what many of those within Boston's own prosperous innovation community have known all along: The tech sector plays an increasingly crucial role in driving Massachusetts' economy.
From research to corporations, the tech industry is a major, and growing, contributor to the Commonwealth’s economy and is responsible for creating 209,000 direct jobs in the state.
On Thursday morning, MassTLC held its annual meeting, hosting policy makers and industry CEOs at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel to partake in a discussion on the ways in which the latest wave of tech innovations stand to impact the state's burgeoning innovation ecosystem.
Tom Hopcroft, president and CEO of MassTLC, said in a statement:
This benchmark report details the vital role that tech plays in the Massachusetts economy in our sector and beyond … It shows that tech is the largest of all innovation sectors and that its economic impact is vast – underpinning close to one-fifth of the workforce and one-quarter of wages paid in Massachusetts, and contributing $6.8 billion in state and local taxes. Even with the current strength in the tech sector, the report shows there is room for even more growth if we focus on developing, retaining, and attracting more talent.
In attendance at the event was Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who seems to be making his rounds in the city's various centers for entrepreneurship as of late in attempts to demonstrate his commitment to the tech sector. On Wednesday, Walsh stopped at Back Bay's LearnLaunch accelerator, telling the crowd of ed-tech entrepreneurs that he, and forces in City Hall, "want to make Boston the tech capital of the world." The mayor then headed over to MassChallenge, where he and Mass. Governor Deval Patrick helped welcome the global accelerator into its new home in the Seaport's Innovation and Design Building, as well as celebrated MassChallenge's London expansion.
Boston's innovation community has big plans for the new mayor, and it seems like Walsh has been doing his best to take note.
Take a look at some of the other findings in the report below.
The tech sector is the biggest innovation sector.
- 13,500 companies or 6.0 percent of all companies in the state
- 209,000 or 6.5 percent of workforce
Tech has impact across the entire economy.
With a jobs multiplier of 2.95 percent, tech underpins:
- 620,000 jobs, almost one-fifth (19.1 percent) of the Mass. workforce
- $50.6 billion, over one-quarter of payroll in Mass.
- $6.8 billion in state and local taxes
- $156 billion in economic output
- Tech jobs pay a competitive $116,000 average annual wage third highest wages among leading tech states
Tech has been growing and executives anticipate further growth.
From 2009-2012, tech has added:
- 1,746 companies in an increase of 14.9 percent
- 11,099 jobs (from 198,062 to 209,161), an increase of 5.6 percent
- Outpacing California (4.9 percent) and U.S. (4.0 percent) tech sectors; and well above the state average of 3.4 percent
- 81 percent of Mass. tech execs anticipate hiring for newly created positions in 2014 (compared with 63 percent nationally)
Image via BBC
