SEATTLE — San Jose, California, Seattle and Wichita, Kansas, led the way with the highest share of its workforce employed in the so-called advanced industries sector that helps drive the U.S. economy, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution.
The report released Tuesday says the advanced industries sector directly employs about 12.3 million workers, or about 9 percent of the nation’s workforce, yet accounts for 60 percent of the nation’s exports and generates about 17 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.
But the authors says the U.S.’s competitive edge is eroding and that the public and private sector must work together to encourage technological innovation, expand the pipeline of skilled workers and foster growth in regional communities around such industries.
The advanced industries sector are made up of manufacturing, energy and service industries that invest heavily on research and development and whose workers have skills in science, technology, engineering and math. The 50 industries include aerospace, oil and gas extraction, satellite communications and computer software design.
The report also ranks states and metropolitan areas in “advanced industry intensity,” or the percentage of jobs in that sector as part of total employment.
The San Jose metro area led in 2013 with 30 percent of its workforce employed in the sector, followed by the Seattle metro area with 16 percent and Wichita metro area with 15.5 percent. Detroit and San Francisco also topped the list.
Michigan ranked highest among states, followed by Washington, Massachusetts, Indiana and Virginia. All of them had more than 11 percent of the workforce employed in advanced industries in 2013, according to the report by the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.
Workers employed in such industries are very productive and well compensated. Workers with some college but no degree earn $53,000 a year, on average, working in advanced industries, compared with $31,000 for workers outside the sector.
In the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area, for example, the average annual wages was $113,160 in 2013 in this sector, compared with $63,180 outside the sector.
While jobs in advanced industries are available for workers of all education levels, the channel to train workers is too narrow. The report says more needs to be done to increase the pool of skilled workers.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
