The reality is, the U.S. is still rebounding from the economic recession, and some sectors show more promise for fueling recovery than others. Namely—high tech fields are largely responsible job growth, and that’s good news for Boston: The Hub has an unusually strong presence of companies involved in tech research and development, and engineering. And as a result, there is an increasing wealth of IT jobs requiring STEM education.
That’s one takeaway from a new report from The Brookings Institution. In it, Brookings illustrates how the advanced industries sector will be a central driving force in revitalizing the U.S. economy.
According to the think tank's definition, the advanced industries sector ranges from manufacturing and aerospace to energy and computer software and design. The authors honed in on 50 industries that fit two criteria: spending the most on research and development, and requiring higher-than-average levels of STEM understanding from staff.
And Boston scored fairly well by Brookings' assessment: The city ranked 6th of 100 U.S. metro areas for number of advanced industry jobs and 8th for economic output from those industries. In 2013, Boston boasted 338,900 jobs in advanced industries, and provided $75.1 billion in output. It's worth noting that several local metropolitan areas are home to a significant number of STEM graduates. In fact, in both Springfield, Mass. and Boston/Cambridge/Newton, 15 percent of the total graduates have a degree in these fields.
But when those stats are viewed with population in consideration, Boston looks even better. As is evident in the second chart—which shows the same stats per 10,000 people—Boston is performing well above its weight, proving just how successful The Hub has been in attracting companies conducting business in areas like research and development, computer systems design and software publishing. // 1 // ]]>1 // ]]>
Top U.S. Metro Areas for Advanced Industry Jobs | Create infographics
As Brookings’ data shows, Boston took the No. 1 spot for advanced industry jobs per 10,000 people, with D.C. following closely behind. Unsurprisingly, New York City still fares well in regards to job numbers, with 630,840 directly created by advanced industries as of 2013. Houston, meanwhile, boasts the biggest engine in terms of this sector’s, thanks to its $154.1 billion in economic output. // 1 // ]]>1 // ]]>
Advanced Industry Jobs in Boston Area by Services | Create infographics
By category, jobs falling under “other” were the No. 1 contributor to Boston’s grand total of 339,100-jobs, followed by computer systems design, and science research and development at No. 3. Management, scientific and technical consulting services came in at No. 4.
Brookings’ report highlights how these jobs have fueled economic activity, producing an annual $2.7 trillion in value – or 17 percent of the U.S. GDP. And the authors point out that spending in these industries can drive additional activity:
Advanced industries also support unusually extensive supply chains and other forms of ancillary economic activity. On a per worker basis, advanced industries purchase $236,000 in goods and services from other businesses annually, compared with $67,000 in purchasing by other industries.this spending sustains and creates more jobs. In fact, 2.2 jobs are created domestically for every new advanced industry job—0.8 locally and 1.4 outside of the region. This means that in addition to the 12.3 million workers employed by advanced industries, another 27.1 million U.S. workers owe their jobs to economic activity supported by advanced industries. Directly and indirectly, then, the sector supports almost 39 million jobs—nearly one-fourth of all U.S. employment.
For Boston tech, that’s a pretty optimistic outlook if our city benefits from much of that additional spending. And for startups searching for skilled candidates, it looks like they’ll continue to have a plenty of prospects going forward. More importantly, Boston may very well play a notable role in America's ability to achieve sustainable economic growth and prosperity into the future.
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